Boris Becker has said his marriage to model Barbara Feltus was ruined after she kept bubbling about the fact that he fathered a child with a Russian waitress – after a brief encounter at Nobu restaurant.
Becker, 55, unusually places part of the blame for his divorce on his wife, due to her reaction to the news that he conceived a child after spending time with Angela Ermakova in 1999.
Baker claims that Barbara, the mother of his children Noah and Elias, initially said, “Well, I still love you and I still want to be with you and let’s find a way somehow.” But, he added, “For months no one knew yet (about the baby).” But after every little thing we discussed, she came back with the joker card and said, “Shut your mouth, because if the world knew what you did, you’d be lost.”
You’re right, I said, but this is not a relationship I can live with. This is impossible. We need a break. “
Boris tells how on that fateful night he left his mother and pregnant wife alone in his hotel room to go out and celebrate the end of his football career, after defeat in the fourth round of Wimbledon. “The first beer was opened right after the game,” he recalls. Then there was another beer. I wanted to go out with my coach, my physio, and my stringer to celebrate.
Boris Becker (pictured) said his marriage to model Barbara Feltus (pictured) was broken after she kept talking about the fact that he fathered a child with a Russian waitress
Becker, 55, extraordinarily places part of the blame for his divorce on his wife, over her reaction to the news that he conceived a baby after having fun with Angela Ermakova (pictured)
I said to my wife, ‘Tomorrow I’m going to be a husband and a father, but tonight, for the last time, I want to be a tennis player.
My wife was on hiatus. Then I had a long discussion with my mother on the balcony. . . And the last thing she said to me was, “Boris, don’t do anything stupid.” “
Later that evening, he goes to Nobu’s, meets Angela, and runs into her in a back room of the restaurant. Then he went back to his “children”, paid the dinner bill and went home to Munich.
Eight months later, he received a fax from Ermakova that she was pregnant. Baker initially denies paternity, but DNA tests prove that the baby Anna (who inherited his red hair) is indeed his, and he makes a financial settlement with her mother – while also financing an expensive divorce from Barbara.
In the documentary Boom Boom! The former World vs. Boris Becker tennis champion has been vocal about his failures, which led to him being declared bankrupt and eventually imprisoned, before being deported from the UK. He is still in the throes of divorcing his second wife, Lily.
The two-part documentary tells the story of his ups and downs, with a focus on his accomplishments on the court. Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney interviewed Baker twice: first in 2017 and then in 2019, three days before he was imprisoned. Clearly emotional, he told viewers, “I just pray the sentence is lenient.” He cries as he says, “It’s hard, it’s hard. You hit my ass.”
Baker, 55, became pregnant with a child (pictured) with Russian waitress Angela Ermakova in 1999
Becker was released from prison last December after serving eight months of his 30-month sentence, and was deported on a private jet to Germany.
“I’ve seen Boris a few times since he got out of prison,” producer John Batzek told me this week. “It’s undoubtedly had a profound effect on him. He’s now ready to start looking at what he wants to do with the rest of his life.”
It seems certain that this commentary will include tennis and he will be free to join the BBC team at Wimbledon for the 2025 Championships.
One of the surprises in the movie, which streams on Apple TV+ from April 7, is how close first wife Barbara is to Baker. Reflecting on the scandal that ended her marriage, she says: ‘I see pain as a learning experience. It should have occurred to me to be here.
Grave Rhys-Jones says his biggest travel pleasure these days is riding buses around London – for free – with his Freedom Pass.
“I spend all my time jumping on and off London buses,” said Grieve, 69. “When Mel (Smith) and I were at our best in the ’80s, there were taxis rolling in to get us everywhere,” adds the comedian and TV presenter, who is part of Not The Nine O’Clock News.
And now I’m the kind of person who says, “No, please don’t send a car. It’s okay. I’ll come by bus.”
Dead singer Rachel will explore her dark side
Get ready for a bloody retelling of the Dead Ringers story, with actress Rachel Weisz playing completely against her usual sweetheart type as twin gynecological surgeons who share a (female) lover and eventually go through a fatal drug-induced breakdown.
In David Cronenberg’s original 1988 film, British actor Jeremy Irons played twins Elliot and Beverly Mantle, who no one can tell apart.
The remake has been made into a six-part series for Prime Video by writer Alice Birch, who also has credits on Normal People and Succession by Sally Rooney.
Weisz, 53, who lives in New York with actor Daniel Craig and their family, admits she is “obsessed” with Cronenberg’s film.
Actress Rachel Weisz will play fully against her usual sweetheart type as a gynecological surgeon who has a twin partner with his (female) lover.
She brought the idea of a remake to Prime Video and was credited as producer. Its characters – also called Elliot and Beverly – now work as surgeons in New York. However, it is still about the relationship between the twins.
“Beverly is altruistic, thoughtful, careful, and kind,” she said. You want to change the way women give birth.
“Elliott is very, very different. She is not altruistic and pushes the boundaries of what is moral.
Author Birch also worked into the elements of the tragic death of Eva Rausing, wife of Tetra Pak and heir to Hans, whose body was discovered several months after her death in 2012 under the mattress in the couple’s London mansion.
“They were very dark dependents,” Wise said of the Rawsings. Offer starts April 21st.
A cunning plan to revive Blackadder
“Something new is coming at some point in the next few months,” says Sir Tony Robinson, who played Blackadder’s servant Baldrick (pictured: right).
Is Blackadder Creeping Again on TV? Sir Tony Robinson, who played Blackadder’s servant Baldrick in four series of the show in the 1980s – and in various specials since – says: ‘Something new is coming at some point in the next few months, but I’m sworn to secrecy because I’m specifically… As it is.
“All I can say is that it’s going to be on TV, something Blackadder-related that viewers haven’t seen before.” Robinson read a bedtime story as Baldrick for Comic Relief this year. “I was overwhelmed with love from the audience after that, so I feel very positive about the future,” he said.
The Apprentice winners all receive a £250,000 investment from Alan Sugar and get his advice for the first year too – but new winner Marnie Swindells (pictured with Lord Sugar) must be warned that not all find it leads to success.
Sian Gabbidon, who won the 2018 series, has voluntarily liquidated her swimwear company.
Gabidon, 30, started the company in February 2018 but stepped down as secretary and director last month after agreeing to quit.
2018 series winner Sian Gabbidon (Picyured) voluntarily liquidates her swimwear company
According to Sian Marie Fashion Ltd’s latest company accounts, a voluntary liquidator was appointed on March 1st after Gabbidon issued a resolution on February 17th to shut down the company.
The latest accounts available, submitted in March 2022 for the year ending 30th June 2021, showed her to have assets of £130,284.
Sian only sold 400 of her swimwear during the first two years of trading.
Emerald Vinyl had to get ready for the breakout musical when the musical Cinderella launched on Broadway this week — renamed Bad Cinderella. The New York Post called it “the dumpster fire of a wacko storybook” and the New York Times simply snorted: “Bad Cinderella review: Title warned us.”
But the good news is that Fennell wrote, directed and produced an amazing movie with Barry Keoghan, the breakout star of The Banshees Of Inisherin’.
Saltburn is Keoghan’s first major film role as he plays a young man obsessed with an aristocratic school friend, in a story that has echoes of Brideshead and The Talented Mr Ripley.
There’s nudity, an ending that’s bound to draw criticism, and some powerful scenes with Carey Mulligan, star of Fennell’s debut film Promising Young Woman. That won him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.
Zooey kept Fatboy’s feet on the ground
Zoe Ball and husband DJ Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, announced in 2016 that they’ve “reached the end of our rainbow” after 18 years of marriage.
However, the divorced couple are clearly still on very friendly terms, with Cook, 59, crediting his ex-wife for keeping him grounded when he was at the height of his fame.
Zoe Ball and husband DJ Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, announced in 2016 that they’ve ‘come to the end of our rainbow’ after 18 years of marriage.
“One thing I had to maintain during that crazy time was my ego,” he told the Changes podcast. While you have a license to break the rules, you always have plenty of people who will let you get away with killing. Zoe was really good to me, because she knew the fame game and we were kind of checking each other out. If I wasn’t respectful to people, she’d say, “Oh, come on, that’s not how we act! Go back and thank them for that.”
We were both very good at keeping each other’s feet on the ground. Because it’s hard for everyone to say: “Here, take this, take this, drink this, you’re great…”
“It’s hard to kind of keep a leash and say, ‘I’m actually a human being, not a star.'” “I think we might have saved each other a lot of trouble.
Tina Turner’s The Musical – which will complete its fifth in the West End this month – has extended bookings to February next year. There have been over 1,500 performances in London, with 13 actresses playing Tina to date.
