He’s the author who cracked it like no other, racking up world-record sales – and a mouthwatering bank balance – courtesy of The Da Vinci Code, which, Dan Brown reflected, he ‘couldn’t have written’ without the help of his wife, Blythe, ‘without a doubt the most astonishingly talented woman I have ever known’.
Yet by 2018 their marital and creative partnership had ended in acrimonious divorce. Nor did wounds begin to heal thereafter.
In 2020, Blythe unleashed a ferocious and detailed legal action, alleging that her ex-husband had led a ‘life of lies’, during which he’d siphoned money from their joint bank accounts so as to lavish presents on four lovers – a personal trainer, a hairdresser, a political figure on the Caribbean island of Anguilla and a Dutch horse trainer whom Blythe herself had hired.
At the time, the author responded in a statement, saying he was ‘stunned’ by the allegations laid out by his wife, saying the complaint had been ‘written without regard for the truth’.
Brown insisted he never misled his ex-wife about their finances while they divorced, adding that she wound up with half of their holdings.
So Blythe, who reached an ‘amicable’ settlement with Dan the following year, may be especially interested to hear the latest development in his personal life, which includes being at his desk, writing, by 4am, and ‘breaking off every hour to do physical jerks to help ‘keep the blood and ideas flowing’.’
I can disclose that the author who, at 61, is nearly 12 years younger than his ex-wife, has got engaged to one of the quartet of his alleged lovers – Dutch equestrian Judith Pietersen, 34.
Brown confirms the relationship in print, using the last line in the acknowledgements for his just published eighth book, The Secret of Secrets, to offer fulsome thanks to ‘my fiancee, Judith Pietersen’.
This public affirmation makes a striking contrast with the author’s reaction to his ex-wife’s allegations in 2020. Declaring himself ‘stunned’, Dan summarised them as being ‘written without regard for the truth’, denied misleading her about his fortune of well over £100million and pointed out that she’d bagged half of it when they divorced.
Blythe had claimed that Dan Brown and Pietersen became romantically involved back in 2014 when the Dutch brunette stayed with them while recuperating from shoulder surgery. Subsequently, alleged Blythe, Dan gave dressage specialist Judith, a car, a two-horse transportation truck and a $350,000 [£260,00] stallion.
‘He really is a dream,’ Judith recorded on social media – referring to the stallion. Let’s hope she can help Dan keep the blood – and ideas – ‘flowing’.
The author previously remained adamant that his relationship with the horse rider began after his marriage with Blythe was one ‘in name only’.
Liam’s lads are mad fer it in LA…
It’s not hard to identify the father of these two young men.
With their rock star shades and swagger in front of the camera, they are the spitting image of Oasis star Liam Gallagher, 52. Gene, 24, and Lennon, 26, seem to be enjoying the perks of life on tour with their father.
With a cigarette in his hand, Gene, whose mother is All Saints singer Nicole Appleton, posed in Los Angeles next to his girlfriend Nevey Maya, a 20-year-old student.
Lennon, son of actress Patsy Kensit, was joined by his model girlfriend, Isobel Richmond, 25, who also holds a cigarette. Clearly, they’re happy to roll with it…
Julia Bradbury’s not-so-enchanting home health hack
Julia Bradbury has radically changed her lifestyle since undergoing breast cancer treatment, but her new ‘wellness’ routine isn’t exactly winning over her other half, Gerard Cunningham.
Her daily routine includes breathwork, meditation and chanting. Julia, 55, who has three children with Cunningham, admits: ‘My partner doesn’t do it, and that’s a bone of contention in the house because you now have this one person that has become a super-health-hack-aware person and the other person, not at all.’
George reveals Boy biopic’s been binned
Boy George has revealed that plans for a Hollywood biopic about his wild life have been scrapped — despite big names attached to the project.
TriStar Pictures had hired J C Lee to write the screenplay last year, with Oscar-
winning Cathy Schulman a producer.
However, the Culture Club star, speaking at the launch for The Blitz Club exhibition at the Design Museum in London, tells me blithely: ‘It’s not even happening, why are people still talking about it?’
Paddy swaps Top Gear for a driver
TV presenter Paddy McGuinness – who’s struggling to sell the £6.5 million Cheshire home he still shares with his estranged wife, Christine – has found solace on the golf course.
‘When I started playing golf, I was rubbish at it,’ says the former Top Gear star, 52.
‘Then I got a few more lessons. It didn’t make me any better, but I understood why I was rubbish – that’s therapy for me.’
Anthony Arlidge’s son says family isn’t ‘too strict about conventions’
When colourful barrister Anthony Arlidge left his wife, judge Constance Briscoe, for Heather Lockwood, a lawyer 50 years his junior, Briscoe described it as a ‘late, late, late crisis’.
His son MJ, meanwhile, commented: ‘I’d like to think our family isn’t too strict about conventions.’ Now probate documents disclose Arlidge, who died in 2023 aged 85, left instructions for his £2.5 million fortune to be shared between Heather and his four children.
Premier Viscount was not invited to the Coronation
Despite being the Premier Viscount of England, he wasn’t invited to the Coronation.
That indignity was compounded when, last year Robin Devereux, 19th Viscount Hereford, whose title dates back to 1550, was made redundant by Bonhams, the auction house of which he’d been a director for several years.
But I can disclose that Robin, 50, has just been recruited by auction house, Fellows, which has made him its chairman.
