EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Charles Saatchi, 79, is pictured on a lunch date
EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Charles Saatchi, 79, enjoys lunch date with model Martha Sitwell, 43, at upmarket Scott’s in Mayfair – where he often took his VERY recent ex Trinny Woodall, 59, and former wife Nigella Lawson
He was accused of subjecting Nigella Lawson to ‘intimate terrorism’ during their marriage and was, memorably, photographed with his hand around her throat, but Charles Saatchi has lost none of his appeal to beautiful women.
Having recently split from his long-term girlfriend Trinny Woodall, the super-rich art collector, who turns 80 next month, is, I can reveal, dating again.
And he’s been spotted dining a deux with vivacious model Martha Sitwell, who, at 43, is almost half his age.
To add insult to injury for Woodall and Nigella, he took Lady Sitwell to Scott’s, the Mayfair restaurant where he used to entertain them.
‘He was canoodling with Martha in his usual corner table,’ an impressed fellow diner tells me. ‘He’s still got it at 80.’
Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson dining outside Scott’s restaurant in 2009. He was accused of ‘intimate terrorism’ during their marriage
Saatchi’s been spotted dining a deux with vivacious model Martha Sitwell, who, at 43, is almost half his age
When I ring Lady Sitwell, she confirms, ‘Yes, we met for lunch’, telling me: ‘Charles is a very clever, very funny man.’
The former ‘face’ of Royal Ascot, she takes issue with her fellow diner’s use of the word ‘canoodling’, insisting: ‘We were not ‘canoodling’; we were making each other laugh.’
Saatchi is understood to have split earlier this year from Trinny, 59, who made her name giving style tips on the hit BBC show What Not To Wear before becoming a successful beauty entrepreneur.
The couple had been together for a decade.
Last month, Trinny fuelled speculation that the relationship was over by revealing, in an emotional post online, that she had ‘moved house’.
The couple had lived together in London. Sources close to the pair claimed that the 20-year age gap was problematic, with Saatchi favouring quiet evenings while Trinny preferred to be more sociable.
Nigella, 63, divorced him ten years ago on the grounds of ‘unreasonable behaviour’ following an argument at Scott’s, where he was seen ‘tweaking’ her nose and holding his hands around her throat.
The Domestic Goddess (right), who was his third wife, reportedly did not seek any financial settlement when she divorced Saatchi (left)
Martha, the daughter of late gastronome Justin de Blank, married film-producing baronet Sir George Sitwell in 2007. She held a ‘divorce party’ when the marriage ended in 2017
The Domestic Goddess, who was his third wife, reportedly did not seek any financial settlement, merely requesting to take her cooking appliances.
Martha, the daughter of late gastronome Justin de Blank, married film-producing baronet Sir George Sitwell in 2007 and they lived at his family’s £3.25 million Grade II-listed home, Weston Hall in Northamptonshire.
She held a ‘divorce party’ in 2017 to mark the end of their marriage.
She once described matrimony in general as ‘pure misery’, explaining: ‘It sucks all the energy from you, sucks your youth and all the fun from your life.’
Mum’s the word for Sir Rocco’s daughter Irene
Hotels heiress Irene Forte claimed earlier this year to have developed a miracle cream for her skincare brand that could beat the signs of ageing.
Irene Forte attends the Holi Saloni celebrations in 2018. The hotel heiress claims to have developed a cream that could beat the signs of ageing
Irene Forte and Sir Rocco Forte pictured together in 2016. Irene has given birth this week to a baby girl
The 33-year-old daughter of Sir Rocco Forte has also found time to produce a baby. I can reveal that Irene, who married tech chief Felix Winckler, 41, in 2021, gave birth this week to a daughter they have named Alisea.
‘We feel so blessed,’ says Irene’s ‘overjoyed’ mother, Aliai.
The second of Sir Rocco and Lady Forte’s three children, Irene is a close friend of Princess Eugenie, who attended her lavish wedding in Sicily.
Hats — or head guards — off to the Marquess of Granby, 23, the Duke of Rutland’s heir.
Charles Manners has just orchestrated a full-scale, expertly refereed punch-up at Belvoir Castle, the Manners’ family seat in Leicestershire. ‘
As far as I know, it’s the first boxing event held within a stately home,’ he tells me, after the Belvoir Boxing Ball.
The bash pulled in 250 high-spirited types, raising more than £15,000 for the charity James’ Place, founded by Clare Milford Haven and Nick Wentworth-Stanley in memory of their elder son, James, who tragically took his own life in 2006.
Dan’s a Strictly solo dancer
Channel 5 news anchor Dan Walker’s stint on Strictly Come Dancing has failed to encourage his wife, Sarah, to put on her dancing shoes.
‘My wife’s not really a dancer,’ Walker tells me at the Sports Industry Awards at Battersea Evolution in South London.
His Strictly partner was Ukrainian pro Nadiya Bychkova. He adds, jokingly, ‘Lots of people have asked me to dance, but I always say, “I only dance with two-time world champions”.’
Walker, 46, and his wife, who have three children, met at Sheffield University, married two years later and still live in the South Yorkshire city.
He has remained friendly with Nadiya, 33, who has since got engaged to fellow Strictly pro Kai Widdrington. ‘I took my kids to go and see Nadiya and Kai’s tour a couple of weeks ago, so I’m staying connected,’ adds Dan.
Now 83, broadcaster Melvyn Bragg has no intention of piping down when it comes to the BBC’s coverage of Christianity.
‘They are missing so much that would inform and educate so many people,’ Lord Bragg says.
‘Christianity is also history, our history.’ His daughter, Marie-Elsa, would approve: she’s a Church of England priest.
Photographer Alison Jackson, who specialises in celebrity lookalikes, rode up to Buckingham Palace in a horse and carriage this week, accompanied by doubles of Charles and Camilla.
They managed to reach the gates, which were opened for them, before the police twigged.
‘They realised they’d made a mistake and dragged me down The Mall in my high heels,’ Bafta-award winner Jackson tells me at the private view of her new exhibition, The Crown, at the Grove Gallery in Fitzrovia.
Yasmin reveals underwear secrets…
Yasmin Le Bon says her daughters insisted on taking her shopping for a bra after her shape changed as she grew older.
Yasmin, who has three daughters with Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon, said she only started wearing a bra a decade ago
The model said she enjoyed being a ‘little bit androgynous’ and that she’s found it hard to deal with her changing shape as she ages
‘What I find really difficult and quite upsetting is I’ve always loved being a little bit androgynous,’ explains the evergreen model, 58.
‘It suited me, it’s how I felt, and I found that much harder to deal with the more weight I’ve put on.
‘You start to have all these womanly bits which, to be frank, I never had before.’
Yasmin, who has three daughters with Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon, adds: ‘I only started wearing a bra probably a decade ago because my daughters really just couldn’t take it any more and insisted that I went bra shopping, which I found quite humiliating.
‘Really, it was like: “You need to do something about this.” And they were right in the end.’
Why Mick is no raconteur (unlike Keith!)
Sir Mick Jagger was paid a £1 million advance by the publisher Lord Weidenfeld in the early 1980s to write an autobiography, but never finished the book and returned the cash.
The Rolling Stones singer later explained that he had found the process ‘inordinately dull and upsetting’.
Now, however, his bandmate Keith Richards’s ghostwriter has suggested Sir Mick’s book would have failed to match the success of the guitarist’s best-selling memoirs, Life, because he lacks his story-telling abilities.
Acclaimed author James Fox says: ‘Keith produced the book with me because he was a great storyteller.
‘He talked about other things, about the people who had influenced him.
‘He had a great intelligence and, surprisingly enough, a great memory.
‘Mick tried to do it and can’t do it. He just doesn’t have the same story-telling thing about his past.’
Ben: I want to be a big-screen bad boy
Wholesome TV presenter Ben Fogle is seeking a radical change of career as he approaches 50.
The adventurer, who was invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, wants to be a hard-man actor in the style of Jason Statham (pictured with wife Marina in 2018)
Fogle said his dream was to be in a ‘proper film’ and to follow his mother, actress Julia Foster, on to the stage
The adventurer, who was invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding, wants to be a hard-man actor in the style of Jason Statham.
‘One of the things I always wanted to do is be an actor and follow my mother on to the stage,’ says the son of TV vet Bruce Fogle and actress Julia Foster.
‘It is my dream to be in a proper film, so if [Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director] Guy Ritchie is watching this, I’d love a part. I’d like to play something that goes against the stereotype, so I’d happily take an East End gangster or a baddie of some kind — everything I’m not.’
Being famous clearly doesn’t make you immune from humiliating experiences.
Just ask pop star Louise Redknapp. ‘I’ve gone up to a certain celebrity while very drunk on New Year’s Eve,’ she admits.
‘They were extremely rude back to me, so that was pretty awkward. I said, “Hi. I know a friend of yours”. And they didn’t really give me anything back.’
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