Heather Mills never usually shies away from confrontation. Who can, for example, forget her fury at her £24 million divorce settlement from Sir Paul McCartney when she drenched his lawyer Fiona Shackleton with a jug of water?
Now, however, the former model fears she’s losing her latest battle, with travellers she claims are devastating her vegan food business.
‘We’ve had a really difficult time,’ she tells me at a vegan event in London’s East End. ‘Irish travellers trashed two of our three factories, three times in the last 18 months – it is a nightmare.’
Mills, 57, does not give any more details about the damage caused to VBites, which she founded with the ‘sole purpose of furthering the plant-based movement’.
She opened a factory in County Durham with the hope of turning her native north-east of England into a ‘Silicon Valley of plant-based foods’.
Heather Mills fears she’s losing her latest battle, with travellers she claims are devastating her vegan food business
It comes as she has been fighting to rebuild her vegan empire after it slid into administration in 2023.
Last year, she struck a million-pound rescue bid, even waiving the almost £5 million the company owed her in an attempt to save the ailing firm.
‘Veganism changes people’s lives and inspired me and brought me into many campaigns,’ she says.
‘I never took a penny from vegan businesses. They go to the different charities that I support around the world.’
Heather, whose left leg was amputated from the knee downwards, took up competitive skiing after her divorce from the former Beatle. She entered the book of Guinness World Records as the fastest disabled female skier of all time.
She has ‘finally settled’ down with ‘toyboy’ Mick Dickman, 39, who, she said, used to eat meat but has since become a ‘passionate vegan’.
With its unflinching account of the breakdown of her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour following his alleged infidelity, Lily Allen’s West End Girl has been described as her ‘revenge album’.
So it seems fitting that she donned an outfit this week that bore a marked resemblance to the ‘revenge dress’ Princess Diana wore after Prince Charles admitted on television to having been unfaithful to her after their marriage had ‘irretrievably broken down’.
Revenge dresses worn by singer and actress Lily Allen this week and the late Princess of Wales in 1997
While Diana’s off-the-shoulder black silk evening gown was designed by Christina Stambolian, Lily’s was created by Antony Price.
The 40-year-old singer wore the dress at the 16Arlington x Antony Price salon show in London.
Stambolian compared the princess’ choice of colour to the black swan Odile in Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, explaining Diana ‘chose not to play the scene like Odette, innocent in white. She played it like Odile. She was clearly angry’.
Queen Elizabeth was far more jolly than the public realised, says royal photographer Hugo Burnand.
‘The Queen had an absolutely wonderful smile, but the Press did have a tendency to publish a very straight-mouthed expression,’ says Burnand, who took the official portraits at King Charles’s Coronation.
On their podcast, Double Exposure, his fellow snapper Cambridge Jones admits: ‘She felt that the photograph that she wanted to give me wasn’t the smiling one, because it was a formal occasion. But during the interactions you [could] see this smile.’
Have I Got News For You producer Jimmy Mulville recalls the weakest link in his career.
‘The BBC asked us to do a topical chat show with Anne Robinson. It was called What’s The Problem? With Anne Robinson. Well it turned out, everything,’ he says.
‘The problem was we couldn’t get anyone to come on and be interviewed by her because she was the queen of mean. People had seen her being comically rude to people.’
Mulville knew he had hit ‘rock bottom’ when he heard the show’s celebrity booker offering profuse thanks to a potential guest for even taking her call about appearing.
‘She puts the phone down, turns to the office and says, “Well that’s a No from Bruno Brookes.”’
Harry’s latest role – as a property ‘expert’
He lived in royal homes most of his life until he bought a mansion in Montecito, California, for £19.5 million with a wine cellar, cinema, gym, spa, pool, tennis court – and 13 (and-a-half) bathrooms.
Now, the Duke of Sussex is to lend his expertise in the property market at a conference – for a fee big enough to buy a home, no doubt.
Prince Harry is to speak at Power House, a conference for 450 estate agents in Toronto, Canada, next month.
In language that may amuse his old Eton pals, where Harry was not known for his incisive contributions, organisers say: ‘This is your chance to hear from influential leaders, political pundits, and powerful insiders on all things real estate policy, housing supply and the Canadian economy.’
Harry’s experience of Canadian property was largely confined to visits to Meghan’s three-bed home in Toronto, where she was filming Suits.
It may have taken years for Oasis to get back together but their live shows have already hit the right note for Liam Gallagher. Lead singer Liam has reported £5.2 million of earnings at Will Power Touring, a company he set up in 2024.
Its takings, the equivalent of £19,000 per day, span nine months to March. That was four months before the first Oasis comeback show, suggesting Liam, 53, was given a huge advance.
Its business is given at Companies House as ‘support activities to performing arts’. Will Power Touring’s first trading figures, signed off by Liam last month, report that it has one member of staff.
It’s a Geri happy 52nd birthday for Christian Horne
It’s been a tough year for Christian Horner, but the former team principal of Red Bull in Formula One, who was sacked in July, still has reason to smile.
For his 52nd birthday on Sunday, he looked as cheerful as could be as his wife, former Spice Girls singer Geri Halliwell, 53, presented him with a white cake adorned with multi-coloured candles.
Christian posted the photo online, writing: ‘Thanks for all the birthday wishes.’
