As someone who considers himself a true Harry Potter fanatic and a big supporter of J.K. Rowling, I was shocked to discover that Ms. Rowling is no longer the richest women in England anymore. In fact, former Miss UK Kirsty Bertarelli is worth more money than Rowling and the Queen combined. Bertarelli, 42, is married to pharmaceuticals heir Ernesto Bertarelli, reportedly the fifth richest man in England while being the richest man in Switzerland. The two first met at a dinner party at a Sardinian villa back in 1998. Together, the couple is worth an estimated £6.87 billion, and the two of them split their time between an £8 million estate in Gstaad, a £10 million mansion in Geneva, and a mews house in Belgravia.
Bertarelli has certainly enjoyed her lavish life style, as she was given her own yacht, Vava II, as a 40th birthday present by her husband. The yacht cost £100 million and is the largest ever built in the UK. Vava II features a “fold-down beach club,” a helicopter pad and a swimming pool.
Despite all the money that she has in her possession, however, Bertarelli’s ambitious are more modest. For her entire life, she wanted to be a singer, and although she did somewhat enter the music industry with her songwriting (Bertarelli did have a song she wrote, “Black Coffee,” performed by All Saints, come in out in 2000 – landing her £12,000 in royalties), it was never with her own voice.
Now, with her modeling career behind her and some time available after dedicated so much of her life to raising her and her husband’s children, Bertarelli is embracing her pop star alter-ego, singer-songwriter “Kirsty,” and is coming out with her first British pop album, Indigo Shores.
Bertarelli’s story certainly nothing like the extreme turn-around that life was like for J.K. Rowling after Harry Potter. However, no matter what their lives were like beforehand, it’s good to see more women with wealth and power who are able to follow their dreams and carve out success for themselves.
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