I’m a Celeb star Nigel Farage’s tangled love life – from ’12-year affair to hospital showdown between wife & 2 lovers’
NIGEL Farage may not be the most popular chap in the jungle, but he’s certainly proven a hit with the ladies over the years.
This week, we revealed his ‘secret girlfriend’ Laure Ferrari will be flying out to Australia to support him on I’m A Celebrity, in a move that would finally confirm their six-year relationship.
It’s just the latest twist in the former UKIP leader‘s tangled love life, which has seen him marry twice, face claims of a scandalous affair and accusations of a mid-air romance with a porn star.
Before Nigel, 59, entered the politics arena, he was working at the London Metal Exchange, before joining brokerage firm Drexel Burnham Lambert.
It was at this stage in his life that he met his first wife Grainne Hayes, who was the nurse that treated him after he was hit by a car in 1985.
A vehicle had collided with him as he walked home from the pub in Orpington, Kent, and he was told by medics that he might lose his legs.
He said: “I married the nurse who treated me. A cliché, I know, but not only did I get my life back, I got a wife and two fantastic sons.”
Irish nurse Grianne tied the knot with Nigel in 1988 and their union lasted nine years, producing two sons, Sam, 34, and Tom, 32.
In 1997 the pair divorced and two years later Nigel had wed again.
This time, it was to German government bond broker Kirsten Mehr who he met in 1996 while still married to Grianne.
Nigel was taken with her almost instantly when they met in Frankfurt while he was on business.
“She was a stunning government bond broker whose brisk efficiency at first sight belied her ethereal appearance,” he later told reporters. “She could have stepped into a pre-Raphaelite painting, no questions asked.”
The pair welcomed two daughters, Victoria, 23, and Isabelle, 18, who are both dual citizens with German passports and are bilingual.
Kristen, 53, gave up her job in the city to focus on raising their children and assisting her husband in his political endeavours.
When Nigel made headlines for his role in UKIP and the Brexit referendum, his marriage came into the spotlight.
In 2017, Kristen admitted that she and Nigel had been living separate lives after she was seen without her wedding rings.
At the time, she said in a statement: “My husband and I have lived separate lives for some years, and he moved out of the family home a while ago. This is a situation that suits everyone and is not news to any of the people involved.”
It confirmed rumours which had been circling for years that their marriage was under strain.
The politician tried to quell rumours of a breakdown, claiming life has its ups and downs and that he was currently experiencing a down.
While the pair haven’t divorced yet, they are separated and Kristen previously claimed that Nigel doesn’t have much to do with their children.
She told The Telegraph: “There is not much time for a family life – but we watch him on the telly when we want to see him.”
Kristen also claimed that he “drinks and smokes to much” and that Nigel’s political role has seen their kids “suffer a lot”.
The politician also admitted he had some regrets about raising his daughters, claiming he was able to spend more time with his sons when they were young as he was in a more traditional 9-5 job.
Shocking long-term affair
In the same year that news of the couple’s estrangement was revealed, Annabelle Fuller, a former aide of Nigel, claimed she had had a decade-long affair with the ex-UKIP chief.
The 42-year-old said she had been sleeping with Farage, who is more than 17 years her senior, from 2004 until October 2016. He declined to confirm or deny the affair.
Annabelle, who now goes by the name Trixy Sanderson, claimed Nigel told her to keep quiet about their dalliance or risk “derailing Brexit” which she didn’t want to do.
“Right from the beginning, lying about the affair was a strategy we decided on,” she told the Mail on Sunday.
In the same Telegraph interview, Kristen refuted “outrageous” claims made by Nikki Sinclaire, a former Ukip MEP in the European Parliament, that Nigel and Annabelle had had an affair.
She said: “I have heard it before and it always comes from the same sort of people who wouldn’t – even if it would be true which it isn’t – she wouldn’t possibly know – because she has never been part of that inner circle or worked for Nigel. I don’t think they have spoken a word to each other in 10 years.”
A close family friend of Annabelle’s later hit out at Farage in the Mail On Sunday and accused him of being a “narcissist”.
Speaking anonymously, they said: “Nigel has acted appallingly with regard to Annabelle. In 2005, he seemed to care for her but by last year he was treating her as an afterthought.
“Despite her nearly committing suicide, he still wanted her to be his sexual partner as late as last year. He is a complete narcissist, and I’m pleased Annabelle can finally leave him in the past.”
In response to the claims, Nigel released a statement saying: “At the time of Ms Fuller’s employment the party did not know there was a history of mental illness and other serious personal issues. I always tried to help her, recognising that she had ability, and prevented her from being fired on several occasions.”
Hospital nightmare
Nigel’s complicated love life allegedly came to a head when he was involved in a plane crash in 2010.
Annabelle claimed she and another alleged mistress both turned up to the hospital, and later on so did his wife Kristen.
“A friend rang to tell me about the crash, followed immediately by a party official who said that I should make my way to the hospital as no one else was there,” she told the Mail on Sunday.
“I was shaking with worry by the time I got there. I didn’t even make it inside before a woman who said she was his local aide barred my way.”
It turned out that the woman in his room was actually his French lover Laure Ferrari, who aides were allegedly trying to remove from the room before Kristen arrived.
French partner
Laure, 44, and Nigel are believed to have met in 2007 when she was working as a waitress in Strasbourg, Germany, aged 28. Nigel is 15 years older than her.
She went on to enter politics herself, first as an parliamentary assistant focused on the environment.
In 2012, Laure hit out at British women in an email rant, branding them “drunken tarts” who “can put themselves in embarrassing situations with well-known married men whom they kiss in public”.
In the furious rant Laure also claimed French women “can be very discreet and respectful hiding a sincere love affair for 3 years and 6 months . . . not looking for any kind of publicity at all.”
The pair were linked together in June 2017 when they were filmed dancing closely together at a party celebrating the one-year anniversary of the Brexit vote.
An onlooker said: “There was no question that they were a couple. Laure was putting on quite a display.
“She seemed to twerk a bit and was all over Nigel. From the look on his face, he was loving every minute.”
Questions had already been raised about their relationship after she moved into Nigel’s house that same year, with him claiming she was a “lodger” with “nowhere else to go”.
Pornstar accusations
In 2017, Nigel was also hit with claims by pornstar Valerie Fox that they had snogged at 30,000 feet on a transatlantic flight.
The adult entertainer, 36, told The Sun: “He had absolutely no qualms about anyone else seeing us together. Our hands were everywhere.”
She claimed it was only a fear of being discovered by flight attendants that stopped them going all the way.
Valerie also claimed Nigel he whisked her off in his chauffeur-driven car before they snogged again and went their separate ways.
But Nigel was quick to rebuff her claims and said he was sleeping for most of the flight.
He said: “Not in that way at all. There was advances very much in one direction that were rejected.
“I saw what was going on and walked away.”