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She thought she had found her ‘second chance’ at happiness after one of the biggest divorces in British history.
But Kirsty Bertarelli has now revealed her heartache after her boyfriend Marc Citron suffered what she called a ‘massive’ stroke – just two years after she introduced him to the world at a glamorous birthday celebration in Sardinia.
The songwriter and former Miss UK, 54, who became Britain’s richest divorcee when she walked away from her marriage to Swiss-Italian billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli with a £350million settlement in 2021, posted a moving tribute to him on Instagram.
Kirsty, who turned to Marc and found happiness with him after her marriage collapsed, offered few details of what had happened – but said that he should have died from the stroke, but she had kept him alive.
Sharing a clip of a new song she has written for him, she wrote in the caption: ‘Dearest Marc – I loved you more than words can say and I still love you and always will. My beautiful soul connection… what we went through no one will understand or comprehend but by writing this song for you… we did good baby – we did good.’
She added: ‘I can only thank you so so much for being so kind when I needed love and god you did. You’re a total Angel – that stays forever in my heart – gives me so much pain but the love you gave me is worth every single moment of heartbreak and you made me stronger than I ever thought possible. Dear Marc I love you.’
In the comments section beneath the post, she disclosed that he had suffered ‘a massive stroke’.
The revelation left followers stunned, with one – who appears to know Kirsty – writing: ‘You looked so happy together when I last saw you and I’ve been aware of what’s going on. What a rollercoaster.’
For Kirsty, Marc’s stroke is the latest in a series of setbacks for her romantic live.
The Staffordshire-born beauty queen had retreated from the spotlight after her 21-year marriage to billionaire Ernesto ended in 2021, with friends saying she had ‘been through the mill’.
But in July 2023 she appeared to be glowing again as she hosted a joint birthday party with Marc in Sardinia.
There, she serenaded him with the words ‘you give me butterflies’ as guests described a ‘true romance’ with ‘not a dry eye in the house’.
Though she declined to share details about Marc at the time – even his surname was never made public – the couple were thought to have been together for some months.
A friend said at the time: ‘She is in a better place – close friends, a new younger man, and a bulging bank balance.’
Her return to happiness was all the more striking because of the scale of her divorce settlement.
When she split from Ernesto – with whom she has three children – she received £350million in cash as well as a £52million glass-fronted house on Lake Geneva and an £8million chalet in the Swiss ski resort of Gstaad.
At the time of their separation, the Bertarellis were ranked 14th on the Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune of £9.2billion – greater than the GDP of some countries.
She made this year’s Sunday Times Rich List as with a personal fortune of £715million – ranking in the top ten richest individuals in the West Midlands.
Born Kirsty Roper in Stone, Staffordshire, she grew up in the Churchill China ceramics family and was crowned Miss UK in 1988, before finishing as second runner-up at Miss World.
She later moved into music, co-writing All Saints’ No 1 hit Black Coffee in 2000, and released her own material in the years that followed.
Her marriage to Ernesto swept her into the world of superyachts and high society, with her husband once buying her the £100million vessel Vava II for her 40th birthday. But friends said that after the split she longed for a real connection.
That seemed to come with Marc. Kirsty frequently hinted at their bond in Instagram captions and song lyrics, writing in one post: ‘Sometimes the stars are aligned – you held my hand and made me shine… Sometimes in life you’re given a second chance – don’t let go just be strong – love knows no bounds when it’s pure and sweet.’
