SEBASTIAN SHAKESPEARE: Supermodel Natalia Vodianova is to marry the son of £84billion luxury goods mogul Bernard Arnault
While many of us were grumpily nursing hangovers yesterday, Natalia Vodianova was still full of New Year’s joy.
For I can reveal that the supermodel accepted a proposal from the son of the world’s third richest man.
Natalia, 37, is to wed Antoine Arnault, 42, whose father, Bernard, is the boss of the world’s largest luxury-goods company, LVMH Moet Hennessy.
His estimated £84billion fortune makes him the world’s richest person after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
Supermodel Natalia Vodianova, 37, is to wed Antoine Arnault, 42, whose father, Bernard, is the boss of the world’s largest luxury-goods company, LVMH Moet Hennessy. The Vogue cover star confirmed the engagement by sharing a picture with friends on New Year’s Eve of her brandishing a sizeable sparkler on her ring finger while enjoying an embrace with Antoine
Natalia (above, in May 2018) was raised in the poor Russian neighbourhood of Nizhny Novgorod and would help make ends meet by working on a fruit stand. Aged 15, she was signed up by a modelling agency and went on to become a household name in fashion
The Vogue cover star confirmed the engagement by sharing a picture with friends on New Year’s Eve of her brandishing a sizeable sparkler on her ring finger while enjoying a warm embrace with Antoine.
‘This year has been beautiful and very memorable,’ she commented.
‘2020 here we come. I can’t wait to celebrate [the new] year with our loved ones.’
Natalia was raised in the poor Russian neighbourhood of Nizhny Novgorod and would help make ends meet by working on a fruit stand.
In 2018, Natalia declared that she wasn’t interested in marrying Antoine, with whom she has two children, Maxim, five, and Roman, three. ‘I feel like we’re married,’ she said. Why change anything?’
Aged 15, she was signed up by a modelling agency and went on to become a household name in fashion.
She was previously married to one of Britain’s most eligible aristocrats, Justin Portman, the 50-year-old son of property heir, the 9th Viscount Portman.
The estimated £84billion fortune of Bernard Arnault (above) makes him the world’s richest person after Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Microsoft’s Bill Gates
Their ten-year union – which produced three children, Lucas, 18, a daughter Neva, 13, and son Viktor, 12 – ended in 2011, which Justin later claimed was due to his alcohol addiction.
‘I do not have time for her fashionable life,’ he admitted after their split. ‘I thought that she was ashamed of me. I became for her a kind of outmoded Louis Vuitton handbag. And then I went to the 28-day course in the rehabilitation centre.’
Earlier this year the Daily Mail diary disclosed that Justin, who has a reputed family fortune of £2.05billion, followed in the Duke of Sussex’s footsteps by quietly marrying an American actress, Morgan Snyder, 36.
His surprise ceremony prompted Natalia’s friends to speculate about whether she would change her mind on a second wedding.
She declared in 2018 that she wasn’t interested in marrying Antoine, with whom she has two children, Maxim, five, and Roman, three. ‘I feel like we’re married,’ she said. Why change anything?’
Clearly, she was won over by Antoine’s Gallic charm.
Antoine and Natalia attend the Stella McCartney Womenswear Spring/Summer 2020 show as part of Paris Fashion Week last September
Natalia was previously married to one of Britain’s most eligible aristocrats, Justin Portman (pictured together) – the 50-year-old son of property heir, the 9th Viscount Portman
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