Paternity test result like ‘being hit by a hammer’
THE MILLIONAIRE who discovered his three sons could not biologically be his has given an emotional interview on live television about why he had taken legal action against his ex-wife.
Richard Mason, who co-founded MoneySupermarket.com, talked about his anger towards ex-wife Kate and admitted the diagnosis was like “being hit by a hammer”.
The 55-year-old, from Rhos-on-Sea in Conwy, said the court action was “necessary after learning in 2016 that he had been infertile from birth because he has cystic fibrosis so couldn’t be the father of his eldest son, 23, and 19-year-old twin boys.
One of the twins has also spoken out about how he hasn’t spoken to Richard for a number of years “because of his behaviour” but says he is “still my dad”.
With his voice breaking during the interview on Good Morning Britain, Richard likened the moment he was given the news to “being hit by a hammer”.
In a highly emotional interview, he told Susannah Reid: “It was like the world had just fallen away. I felt like, on the one hand, I had just been told I had a terminal illness and then finding out the boys weren’t mine was just very, very hard.”
It has emerged that two of the boys no longer have contact with him after he took legal action against their mother, suing her for paternity fraud.
He received £250,000 after a twoyear legal case.
Explaining why he had gone to court, Richard said: “My legal action was a result of what was initiated by my ex-wife many, many years ago when she first got pregnant by another man.
“I think she knew what she was doing at the time because lots of evidence has come to light since. She may have been told by him that he wasn’t prepared to leave his wife, or he may have had a family already.
“I think she decided to begin a lie and what happened was, that lie got bigger and bigger. Then she did exactly the same thing again. I never doubted that the kids were mine. When the diagnosis was given to me I just thought, ‘My God, what do I do now?’
“I had brought the boys up to be open and honest. Even though I divorced her 10 years ago, I saw the boys every week. I always used to say to them that I would never do anything their mum didn’t know about, never say anything to you I don’t want your mum to know about. I told them to be just open and honest with their mum all the time.
“I always thought she was a good mum to them. She is reasonably cold as a person and quite critical. I thought she was a good mother to them.”
Talking about the court action, he said: “The process of taking her to court was a necessary one. When something like that happens to you there is this betrayal, bitterness, an anger which you can’t explain. I am still their dad and rather than getting a hammer and going to confront her, I just think to myself, ‘what can I do?’
“I wanted to be straightforward and honest and thought, ‘what I should do was go to the law’.”
His second wife, Emma, who joined him for the interview, added: “This is one of the biggest paternity cases that the UK has seen. For the boys, it was showing them that this was a fraud and you just can’t get away with no consequences at all.”
Richard said he didn’t have any option but to take legal action.
He said: “This was a lie that started off 23 years ago and this has blown up and I had to do what was right.”
Speaking directly to the boys, he said: “I haven’t done anything wrong at all. I love you and my door is always open. I have got the kettle waiting to go on and a six-pack of beer. Let us have a hug. Have a word with your mum and tell her to stop being so daft.”
Good Morning Britain said they had tried to contact Richard’s ex-wife but she hadn’t responded.
Meanwhile, one of the boys told MailOnline: “It [the publicity] didn’t hurt me because he hadn’t been my dad for a few years. I felt nothing. I haven’t asked mum who our real dad is, I’m sure she’d tell me but I don’t want to know.”
The son, who says he hasn’t spoken to Richard for three years, added: “I haven’t been speaking to him for a number of years. But he’s still my dad and I’m not going to look for my real one.”