Next week at a fashionable Belgravia gallery, a select group from the beau monde of London’s art set will gather for a private showing of some rather risqué nude sculptures. Casting an eye over the titillating installation will be John Cleese who, his friends say, has set his heart on one particularly seductive life-size bronze of a naked woman, with a list price of £30,000.
Despite his protestations that his £12.5million divorce from his third wife has left him penniless — and forced the 71-year-old into a series of live shows which he has dubbed the Alimony Tour — Cleese seems determined to buy the piece for his new London home.
Which is hardly surprising, perhaps, given that the model and muse for the high-priced collection of suggestive works is none other than the Python star’s shapely — and much younger — lover Jennifer Wade.
Head-over-heels: John Cleese with his new girlfriend Jennifer Wade
The blonde and statuesque Miss Wade posed naked on several occasions earlier this year for the artist Jonathan Wylder in his London studio. Indeed, Wylder’s website carries a photograph of Cleese’s girlfriend au naturel, barely concealing her modesty as the sculptor works on recreating her unclothed likeness.
Some men might baulk at the thought of their lover’s naked form being gawped at by other men — including the invited guests at the launch of the exhibition at the impeccably smart Osborne Studio Gallery on Thursday night.
Not, by all accounts, Cleese. ‘John’s quite liberal about these things,’ his friend Michael Winner told me this week.
‘He certainly doesn’t mind that his girlfriend posed for these sculptures and he’s going along to the exhibition to support her fully.’
Other friends describe him as being ‘sexually obsessed’ with Jennifer, and say her posing for the naked sculptures keeps the film and TV star in her thrall.
If that’s Miss Wade’s plan, then it appears to be working. Just last week the couple were spotted buying what looked like a wedding dress at the vastly expensive Dolce & Gabbana designer store in London’s Bond Street.
At the same time, the Fawlty Towers actor gave an interview to a Sunday newspaper in which he hinted he might be about to make Miss Wade, who is 31 years his junior, his fourth wife.
‘I like the idea of it,’ the comedian and actor said. ‘I think it’s a lovely idea to spend a lot of time with someone.’
Grand plan? The couple shopping for a white dress in London this week
In fact, some believe that Cleese has already popped the question to beautiful jewellery designer Jennifer, who was born in Britain but grew up in the U.S. He recently threw a lavish party for 200 friends to celebrate her 40th birthday in Mosimann’s, the ritzy Belgravia club.
During a speech to toast his girlfriend’s birthday, Cleese reportedly left guests, including her mother and father, open-mouthed when he turned to Miss Wade halfway through and announced: ‘I think I’ll take you off the shelf.’
Which would not seem to leave much room for doubt about his intentions, although film director Winner says that Cleese swears the white embroidered dress he has purchased for his lover is purely for the opening of the sculpture exhibition next week.
Whatever the case, it may be only be a matter of time before he pops the question to his younger lover. What’s more, Cambridge-educated father-of-two Cleese might be serious about starting a family with her.
His friend added: ‘I suspect they’ve been talking about it. To be honest, I think it’s perfectly crackers at his age.’
Meanwhile, his chums say Jen, as she is known to friends, has involved herself with the expensive refurbishment of a rather grand apartment close to Sloane Square in Chelsea that John has recently purchased for them.
She has also been putting her stamp on the decor of a high-ceilinged flat in the prestigious Royal Crescent in Bath that he has bought so they can be close to her parents, Maxwell and Georgia, who are both younger than Cleese.
Which does rather invite the question: Is the Basil Fawlty actor quite as hard up as he says he is?
Third time unlucky: John Cleese with his third wife Alyce Faye Eichelberger. The couple divorced in 2009
Next month he begins a stand-up tour of Britain, officially called An Evening With The Legendary John Cleese.
He claims he needs to go on the road for his first ever UK stage tour to fund his bitter divorce from wife number three, American psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger, 66.
In their 2009 divorce settlement, which brought an end to their 16-year marriage, he was ordered by a Californian court to pay her an £8million lump sum and £612,000-a-year until 2016 — despite the couple having no children.
In 2009, he explained his decision to go on the road again, saying: ‘I have to find a million dollars a year until I’m 76 — so you don’t get that sort of money by sitting at home.’
But it seems Cleese has shown precious little inclination towards frugality when it comes to his recently divorced new love, whom he began dating 16 months ago after they were introduced in San Francisco.
Friends say as well as the huge party to celebrate her birthday and the promise of buying that naked sculpture for her, he has lavished a fortune on a new wardrobe for his lover.
He reportedly also took her on a luxury cruise across the Atlantic on the Queen Mary II. Certainly, Miss Wade does rather look like the cat that’s got the cream. Their relationship does seem to be progressing at a remarkable pace.
His friend and Monty Python co-star Terry Gilliam has already publicly urged him to slow down, saying of suggestions that they will marry: ‘If he does, he’s stupid. Each time they get younger.’
Cautious approach: Terry Gilliam (left) says his former Monty Python colleague would be 'stupid' to marry again, while friend Michael Winner suggests a pre-nup
Even Michael Winner is counselling caution: ‘I would certainly advise him to ask for a pre-nup, not that I have any reason to think she’s grasping,’ he told me this week.
‘He might say he hasn’t got any money, but he’s not on his uppers. In my view, he should still get a pre-nup. John’s marvellously nutty, but you can’t tell him anything. However, I must say that this girl definitely makes him happy, so good luck to him.’
Given Cleese’s dismal record on the matrimonial front, one does have to wonder if Miss Wade will be the one to finally make him happy.
Some in his circle are privately concerned at her keenness to use her connection to her famous older boyfriend to raise her profile. Recently, she persuaded him to appear with her in Tatler to promote her jewellery design business.
Miss Wade, who boasts to friends she could ‘sell ashtrays to a non-smoker’, is said to be ‘beyond excited’ over the boost the nude sculptures will give her public profile.
What is true is that even if by conventional standards Cleese is hardly broke, he can ill-afford yet another expensive divorce.
On and off-screen partnership: Cleese first married Connie Booth, who starred with him in Fawlty Towers
His first marriage to American-born actress Connie Booth, with whom he starred in Fawlty Towers and has a 40-year old daughter Cynthia, ended after ten years in 1978.
Cleese’s second marriage, to another American actress, Barbara Trentham, lasted for nine years before he paid her £2.5million in a divorce settlement in 1990. The couple have a daughter, Camilla, who has battled drink and drugs problems and has had a difficult relationship with her famous father.
Public records in the U.S. show that Cleese, who starred in hit film A Fish Called Wanda as well as the Monty Python classics, has been forced to liquidate all his U.S. property portfolio over the past 12 months.
Prior to his costly divorce, he had already sold the 15-acre equestrian ranch he shared with Miss Eichelberger in Santa Barbara, California, for £10.2 million — way short of the £17.5 million the property was advertised for.
Since then, he has sold two further properties in the upmarket Montecito suburb of Santa Barbara, including a £6 million beach house. In January this year, he also transferred the deeds to a £1 million apartment on New York’s exclusive Upper East Side to his ex-wife.
In October, the art-lover auctioned off his large collection including works by cartoonists Ralph Steadman and Gerald Scarfe for £750,000 at Sotheby’s in New York. Meanwhile, he sold a house in Holland Park, West London, for £2.5million. Last week, Cleese claimed his wealth has fallen to just £2million, though he is thought to have paid more than £3million earlier this year for the apartment in Chelsea.
He and Miss Wade — who is divorced from Old Harrovian businessman Richard Norris — have, according to his circle, been staying in London hotels while she oversees the renovations.
As well as his stand-up shows, which have taken him to America, New Zealand and Scandinavia, Cleese has a lucrative business in the U.S. giving motivational lectures to large corporations. The shows feature him talking candidly about his brushes with ill-health, including the knee replacement he had last year which left him needing a Zimmer frame.
Then there was his painful digestive disease diverticulitis, bladder infection, hip replacement operation, a complete set of tooth implants and, of course, his three hair transplants.
Rather embarrassingly, he has also been driven to appear in a series of naff television adverts for the AA’s home service, which have featured him being trapped in a sleeping bag and calling for their plumbers to help with his ‘faulty showers’.
It is, he insists, a case of needs must.
‘John’s not what I would call rich today,’ explained Michael Winner. ‘He’s all right, but like everyone else, he’d like to win the lottery.
‘He didn’t get a proper pre-nup last time and I think his American lawyer could have got a better deal. He certainly needs to do his tour for the money, no question about it.
‘If you have to give someone a million dollars a year before a penny you have earned comes to you, that is serious. He had a lot of property, but he’s had to sell.’
Which does make one wonder if this is really the time for the financially straitened, but head-over-heels in love Cleese, to be thinking about plunging into marriage number four.
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