A quick chat with Tamara Ecclestone
As the daughter of billionaire Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone, Tamara Ecclestone has got used to living her life in the spotlight. This week, though, the attention is likely to intensify with the launch on Friday, November 4 of Billion $$ Girl, a jaw-dropping new Channel 5 reality series which follows the heiress and model’s life over the course of seven months, from taking her dogs to Harrods’ pet spa to renovating the £45million house she is set to move into. TV&Satellite Week magazine caught up with her to find out more... People think I’m a dumb airhead... I have four As at A-level and I raised £600,000 this year for Great Ormond Street Hospital. Yes, I like shopping and I come from a privileged background, but my dad came from humble beginnings and worked for everything he has got to give his children a nice life. Billion $$ Girl is my right to reply... As long as people see the real me, I’m pleased. If they don’t like me, then at least they’ve made that decision based on who I am. There are a lot of misconceptions about me... It just isn’t true that I have spent a million pounds on a bath or that I feed my dogs filet mignon. I’m quite normal, honestly... I love going to the cinema and having popcorn and pick-and-mix or going to the pub for Sunday roast and I do my shopping online so I do know the price of things. I’ve even had a Pot Noodle, but I don’t like them. Since my dad got mugged I now have bodyguards... It was right on his doorstep and he ended up with stitches and bruises because they took his wallet, but still beat him, which is sick. It really freaked me out. People are mean to me on Twitter... But sometimes I re-tweet things because they’re funny. The best one I had was someone saying, ‘You are just lucky sperm’. I am trying to develop a thicker skin about what people say about me... It does bother me because I’m quite a sensitive, emotional person. My dad is very tough and he lets things go in one ear and out the other because he is older and has had it happen to him for longer. Hopefully over time I will develop that approach.
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Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.
An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.