She’s never feared going where others might dare not tread, either in her private or professional life, embracing Islam before marriage and opting for a career in radio despite the inevitable comparisons with her legendary father that that was bound to bring.
But I can disclose that Fia Tarrant, 37-year-old daughter of ursine broadcaster Chris Tarrant, original host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, has just taken her most diverting step to date.
She’s announced that, four years after splitting up with her husband, Adam Ali Khan, 37, a property developer, she has found love again – but, this time, with a woman.
‘Time to open up that closet door!’ Fia declares on social media, alongside a snap showing the tip of her middle finger resting tenderly in her new love’s palm.
But even Fia, a presenter on Heart, is not quite ready to name her beloved yet, still less to say whether wedding bells may soon be sounding – even if only proverbially.
I can disclose that Fia Tarrant, 37-year-old daughter of ursine broadcaster Chris Tarrant (pictured), original host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, has just taken her most diverting step to date
She’s announced that, four years after splitting up with her husband, Adam Ali Khan, 37, a property developer, she has found love again – but, this time, with a woman (pictured: Fia Tarrant)
‘Time to open up that closet door!’ Fia declares on social media, alongside a snap (pictured) showing the tip of her middle finger resting tenderly in her new love’s palm
Early in 2011, a full year before she married Adam, with whom she’d been going out for three years, Fia converted to Islam, explaining that, though she believed in God, her conversion was ‘more symbolic’ because she ‘wanted to make Adam’s parents happy’.
‘The good thing,’ added Fia, ‘was that when you convert you get a completely clean slate – all your misbehaviour in the past is wiped clean.’
She and Adam have an eight-year-old son, Haris.
Her father is known for his colourful love life. Fia’s mother, Ingrid, discovered in 2006, via a private investigator she’s hired, that Tarrant had been enjoying a seven-year long affair with schoolteacher Fiona McKechnie. The ensuing divorce battle was bitter and protracted.
When it comes to the latest development in Fia’s life, Ingrid tells me: ‘The main thing is that people are happy.’
King seeks trustee to boost charity coffers
King Charles wants a new Michael Fawcett.
His charity empire, the King’s Foundation, is advertising for a trustee who has ‘experience and skills in fundraising and development’.
Former footman Fawcett was credited with transforming the fortunes of the charity when he was chief executive, but he resigned in 2021 after allegedly being at the centre of a ‘cash-for-honours’ investigation abandoned by the Metropolitan Police after 18 months.
It was claimed that he had discussed how to secure a knighthood and citizenship for Saudi tycoon Mahfouz Bin Mahfouz – who ultimately donated £1.5 million to The Prince’s Foundation. Mahfouz denies any wrongdoing.
Fawcett, meanwhile, has not been idle. I reported last month that he and his wife, Debbie, have put away £60,000 in the past financial year.
Reserves for their events company, Premier Mode, have risen to more than £140,000, figures reveal.
Reformed (somewhat) rocker Pete Doherty is a fan of documentary-maker Louis Theroux. ‘There are very few people that are trusted by the general public, and he’s one of the last,’ says Kate Moss’s ex-boyfriend.
Doherty allowed Theroux to follow his blissful new life with wife, filmmaker Katia de Vidas, in Normandy. ‘I was quite curious to meet him, and the only way to do that was to agree to do the interview,’ adds Doherty, 44.
He considered the BBC2 film, chronicling his ongoing health problems having replaced drugs with cheese and saucisson, ‘a very balanced piece’. What is he on?
Late Speaker Betty given the last word
Order! Order! Betty Boothroyd is going to talk from beyond the grave.
The much-loved House of Commons Speaker told friends shortly before her death last February at the age of 93 that she wanted to ‘go out with a bang’ and duly planned a final speech in the Lords.
Alas, Baroness Boothroyd never made it. But it was written – and is to be published.
I hear that Sir Nicolas Bevan, her former secretary, plans to put it in parliamentary magazine The House, perhaps as soon as the next issue.
The much-loved House of Commons Speaker Baroness Betty Boothroyd (pictured) told friends shortly before her death last February at the age of 93 that she wanted to ‘go out with a bang’ and duly planned a final speech in the Lords
Carrie Hope Fletcher, who starred in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s West End musical Cinderella, has exited X, formerly known as Twitter, stage left.
The actress, who’s expecting her first child with husband and actor Joel Montague, says: ‘It wasn’t good for me to be dealing with that kind of targeted harassment when heavily pregnant.’
It’s not clear why Hope Fletcher, 31, who has almost half a million followers on the social media website, was targeted. She’s handed over her account to her managers.
Sophie: Murder On The Dancefloor is my nude single
Emerald Fennell’s much-talked-about film Saltburn concludes with actor Barry Keoghan prancing through a stately home in his birthday suit to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 song Murder On The Dancefloor.
And the singer couldn’t resist alluding to the scene when she sang the hit at Able2UK’s Stop the Shadows Night at the Hard Rock Cafe in Mayfair.
‘Dance with your clothes on, or clothes off,’ Ellis-Bextor, 44, told the audience, which included Men Behaving Badly’s Neil Morrissey, 61, and Joe Thomas and James Buckley, of teenage comedy hit The Inbetweeners.
Murder On The Dancefloor has reached No 2 in the singles chart thanks to Saltburn, and Ellis-Bextor joked: ‘This is my new hit single.’
Emerald Fennell’s much-talked-about film Saltburn concludes with actor Barry Keoghan prancing through a stately home in his birthday suit to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s (pictured) 2001 song Murder On The Dancefloor
England Rugby World Cup winner Phil Vickery has been forced to admit defeat in the hospitality business.
I hear the former captain’s No.3 Restaurant in Charlton Kings, Gloucestershire, has filed for insolvency.
‘We are very sad to have reached this point and to have had to decide to cease trading,’ Vickery says.
‘Like so many other establishments operating in the hospitality sector, the effects of the cost-of-living crisis, astronomic increases in energy bills, and a lack of support from the Government for the sector have had a devastating effect on trade.’
