EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Why marriage is a taxing issue for £100m Ricky Gervais
He’s the comedian who eviscerated ‘woke’ culture with his daring jokes about subjects such as transgender and Aids.
Yet there’s one word that’s always seemed taboo to Ricky Gervais — marriage. Now, however, he could be planning to propose to the novelist Jane Fallon in 2022, marking the 40th anniversary of their relationship.
Gervais, 60, admits that it’s money rather than love that is pushing him towards the altar, though. Asked why he never married Fallon, 61, he initially responds: ‘What’s the point? We share everything anyway.’
But when it’s suggested that if one of them dies, the other could end up with a huge tax bill for their share of the pair’s house, Gervais says: ‘That’s a good practical reason to do it. That’s what we will… would do.’
Gervais, 60, admits that it’s money rather than love that is pushing him towards the altar, though. Asked why he never married Fallon, 61, he initially responds: ‘What’s the point? We share everything anyway.’
Financial matters are rather pressing for Gervais, who lives in an £11 million North London mansion with Fallon and has an estimated fortune of more than £100 million.
His Netflix comedy, After Life, has been seen by 85 million people, making it the most-watched British comedy of the decade. But he insists the third series will be the last.
‘It’d be better for me if I did it for the rest of my life, but it’s best for the show that it ends. Otherwise you might as well be making a soap.’
The couple don’t have any children. ‘We mutually decided that we weren’t interested,’ he tells Saga.
‘It’s odd. The question is, ‘Why do you have children?’. If you’re bringing a life into the world, you’d better have a good reason for it.’
Now, all he has to do is encourage Fallon to tie the knot.
She told my colleague Jan Moir last year: ‘It is not that I am anti-marriage. It is just that it has never particularly interested me.’
There’s one word that’s always seemed taboo to Ricky Gervais — marriage. Now, however, he could be planning to propose to the novelist Jane Fallon in 2022, marking the 40th anniversary of their relationship
His Netflix comedy, After Life, has been seen by 85 million people, making it the most-watched British comedy of the decade. But he insists the third series will be the last
Bibulous Pogues singer Shane MacGowan, whose song Fairytale Of New York is a Yuletide favourite, has unveiled a book full of his artwork, The Eternal Buzz And The Crock of Gold. ‘I was always into drawing and painting, and I used to do all sorts of things — hurlers, IRA men, teenage punks hanging around in cafes, you name it,’ he says. A riposte to those who considered MacGowan an artist of a less elevated order.
‘Hot’ pic of Meghan’s pal sparks online row
The Duchess of Sussex preaches body positivity and is said to have told friends she wanted to set an example by not losing her baby weight after giving birth to Archie.
So she may be surprised by her friend Katharine McPhee’s antics. Katharine’s husband, music mogul David Foster, 72, who’s been called a ‘father figure’ to Prince Harry, shared a photograph of her looking slim in a bikini, ten months after the birth of their son. He commented: ‘What baby!’
Many of his followers took offence, arguing that he shouldn’t be promoting crash-dieting after pregnancy. But Katharine, 37, hit back, telling her critics to ‘get a life’.
She added: ‘Maybe you should have more of an attitude of like, let’s say…’Oh, that’s nice he thinks his wife is hot’.’
Foster, the former step-father of models Gigi and Bella Hadid, lent Harry and Meghan his £10 million mansion in Canada before they quit Britain.
Katharine’s husband, music mogul David Foster, 72, who’s been called a ‘father figure’ to Prince Harry, shared a photograph of her looking slim in a bikini, ten months after the birth of their son. He commented: ‘What baby!’
Soon MPs will be counting their blessings — I hear the Parliament Choir is set to sing at a saintly gathering in Rome. ‘We are booked to sing at St Paul’s near the Vatican at an event marking the anniversary of Cardinal Newman being made into a saint,’ its conductor Simon Over tells me. In 2019, Cardinal John Henry Newman became the first English saint of the modern age. Prince Charles has written a foreword to a book, The Parliament Choir: Twenty Years Of Political Harmony, in which he says: ‘The choir has shown how those [with] different views can unite in a common love of music.’
Kirstie flies the flag for Covid-era travel
This ghastly pandemic has left us all feeling guilty about foreign travel, says Kirstie Allsopp, who’s urged us to join her in sunnier climes.
Sharing a picture from her Christmas getaway, the Location, Location, Location star says: ‘Don’t let Covid put you off, don’t feel there’s something selfish about travel in these times, millions of livelihoods rely on your custom.’
Kirstie, 50, daughter of former Christie’s chairman, the 6th Lord Hindlip, has previously made clear that her children must slum it in Economy on long-haul flights while she sips champagne in Business.
‘Club class should be a treat you’ve worked hard for,’ she explained. ‘If kids get used to it, what do they have to work towards?’
Marco’s costly plan to honour chef Bourdain
Marco Pierre White was left devastated when fellow television chef Anthony Bourdain took his own life in 2018, at the age of 61.
Now, he’s revealed that he spent more than £700,000 buying up the Kitchen Confidential writer’s possessions and plans to open a museum in his honour.
‘What I couldn’t cope with is his collection being dispersed around the world, so I bought everything, including his bedroom,’ he says.
‘I bought all the artworks and I had to buy back some of the things I had given him for a lot more than I paid for them. His personal knife we bought for $250,000. We spent $1 million on his things and I will unveil them.’
White, 60, adds: ‘It’s all being boxed and framed with that museum quality. All of his artworks will be used for an exhibition.’
Martha shoots and scores against animal activists
With hunt supporters attacked by saboteurs this week, country sports lovers could be forgiven for keeping their heads down.
Yet Martha Sitwell is made of sterner stuff. The society model, 42, has shared this photograph of her proudly carrying a brace of pheasants she bagged on a shoot in Lincolnshire.
‘People can be critical, but I would rather eat something that has had an organic death than something factory-farmed,’ says Lady Sitwell, the former face of Royal Ascot.
The ex-wife of film-producing baronet Sir George Sitwell adds: ‘Gaming is a much cleaner, quicker death.’
Martha Sitwell is made of sterner stuff. The society model, 42, has shared this photograph of her proudly carrying a brace of pheasants she bagged on a shoot in Lincolnshire
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