Diamond-encrusted dinner plates, R1,1 million shopping sprees and champagne baths . . . it is a hard life when you’re married to one of the world’s wealthiest men.
When Christina Estrada, the former supermodel, revealed her exorbitant annual living expenses during her high-profile divorce from billionaire businessman Sheikh Walid Juffali this month, it raised more than a few eyebrows.
Ms Estrada, 54, received R1 billion, the largest award of its kind ever made by a London court, every penny of which she says she ‘needs’.
There’s the R18 million she claims to spend on clothes every year, the R4,7 million holiday in Paris, R1,7 million for beauty treatments and R 176,867.00 for four bottles of face cream. It clearly is another world.
But what else does a billionaire’s wife do with all that cash? I’ve asked some super-elite ladies, and well-placed professionals, for an exclusive peek inside their club.
R301.000,00-a-kilo caviar
No self-respecting billionaire’s wife concerns herself with cooking — there’s a private chef on call 24/7 to take care of that.
But if there are groceries to be bought, she wouldn’t be seen dead in Waitrose or Marks & Spencer. She prefers shopping in London’s upmarket Chelsea (where, at French bakery Poilane, a loaf of bread will set you back R94.08), Selfridges, where she’ll buy R33,868.19 legs of Iberico ham, and Harrods Caviar House, for their R301,050.57-a-kilo albino sturgeon caviar.
In one of last year’s most high-profile divorce cases, Anne Dias, the wife of hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin, claimed she spent R96,524.34 a month on groceries alone — despite eating out most nights.
Kamaliya Zahoor, 39, a Ukrainian singer married to British-born billionaire Mohammad Zahoor, says her favourite restaurants are China Tang, the art deco eatery in London’s Dorchester Hotel, where she orders the R827.89 stir-fried lobster, and Le Gavroche, where she tucks into the R3,988.92-a-head tasting menu featuring poached duck.
Emyr Thomas, founder of concierge company Bon Vivant, says his female clients demand the best tables in the house — often with just a few hours’ notice.
‘Some of the best tables will be in prime position so you can be seen; others will be discreetly hidden out of sight,’ he says. ‘Most reservations are for dinner, but long, boozy lunches can be popular as well.’
One of the most in-demand spots is Aulis at Claridge’s, the six-person-only chef’s table in the hotel restaurant, where guests pay R5,268.39 a head for a tasting menu plus wine.
A popular choice on the menu is the R150,525.29-a-bottle Pomerol Petrus 1982.
Daily Mail