I’m splashing £4million on kids at Christmas including a £600K flat for my baby – I couldn’t think what else to get him
AS Britain's first gay dads, Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow are used to spoiling their family rotten.
But this Christmas, , 52, who has seven children via surrogacy, is having an extraordinary £4million blowout.
It includes splashing more than a million quid on his and fiance Scott Hutchinson's four-month-old-baby Romeo, who'll be treated to a £475,000 Rolls Royce Cullinan to take him to nursery.
He'll also get a £50,000 bracelet, a wardrobe of designer clothes and a £600,000 home in Manchester, where Barrie is originally from.
The millionaire in 2019, but they still share a home in Florida, along with Scott, 27, and Tony's partner Brent, so they can co-parent their family.
Barrie is spending £120,000 on his and Scott's two-year-old daughter , including having her own personal playground built for her in the grounds of their home.
REAL LIFE
But perhaps their most extraordinary gift is that they also plan to give up to £450,000 to enable three complete strangers to have a surrogate baby of their own – and they are inviting people to get in touch to apply for their generous opportunity.
In an exclusive interview Barrie, who is worth an estimated £175million from investments and health companies, tells The Sun: “We have spent months planning the ultimate Christmas as it's Romeo’s first, and he is the last baby I plan to have.
“We will have a massive traditional Christmas day dinner, prepared by a team of chefs. Afterwards, we will walk on the beach with the dogs and spend the day playing board games.
“This year there's going to be no expense spared as this is the last time we'll have a new baby at Christmas in our home.”
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He adds: “Everyone buys their family gifts at Christmas and they spend to their means. I make no apology for giving my children what I didn't have when I was a child."
Barrie and ex-husband Tony, 57, made history in 1999 when they became the first British same-sex couple to be legally recognised as parents, after welcoming twins Saffron and Aspen, 22 through surrogacy.
They went on to have son Orlando, 18, followed by 11-year-old twins Jasper and Dallas. Barrie also has son Colin, who is now in his thirties, from a previous relationship.
Sadly, Barrie and Tony split after growing apart, but they still remain committed to one another.
Tony was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2006. They started sleeping in separate bedrooms and their relationship became platonic.
The pair agreed to amicably split, but have continued co-habiting in their 10-bedroom mansion and are supportive of each other's relationships.
£600k flat for baby son is an 'investment'
The presents bought for their brood are eye-wateringly expensive.
Barrie says: “We have bought Romeo a lovely gold and diamond bracelet, that he can wear now and add a link to every year until he is an adult – that is something we did for all of the kids.
“He will also have lots of new clothes and hundreds of new little toys.
“It’s very hard to buy for this age as they don’t tend to do much, so we decided to buy him a £600k apartment in the same block as his eldest sister Saffron and youngest sister Valentina.
"It's an investment for the future for him and we are waiting to complete on that in time for Christmas.
"For the new car I've had special Rolls Royce car seats made at £25,000 each, and had the Rolls Royce floor plate removed that normally says Rolls Royce.
"It now says 'The Drewitt-Barlow family' - so as you open the door it says the family name. Very tacky, but what the hell. The ceiling even has stars that twinkle."
Two-year-old Valentina will have her very own £50,000 playground built for her at the new Grand Designs style £6million mansion Barrie and Scott are building in Essex.
Barrie says: “Valentina is at the age now where she is able to actually really play with stuff. She loves going to the park and getting on the big climbing frames and swings.
“So we have decided to fit a private play area at our new house in Essex for her, so she can have her own private park.
“It's going to be fitted with the latest climbing frames and roundabouts.
“We have had a company specialising in that, and they are designing and fitting it for her.
“Scott has also spent over £45,000 on clothes and shoes for her and Saffron has bought her a £30,000 Tiffany bracelet made of white gold and diamonds. She also has tons of silly little gifts too.”
Their other children won't miss out on lavish gifts either.
Barrie says: “Saffron is getting a new car this year - she wanted the Lamborghini Uris for £275k.
We have decided to fit a private play area at our new house in Essex for Valentina, so she can have her own private park
Barrie Drewitt Barlow
“Aspen is getting two new Rolex watches at £79k, Orlando has a new £700,000 apartment in Tampa, right next to the university so it's easier for him to get to class.
"And Jasper and Dallas asked for a PS5 and a new £40,000 Rolex each.”
Barrie has also splashed out £1million on six auction properties as a Christmas gift to help launch fiance Scott's new property business in the UK.
The couple will move into their Essex home in January and commute between there and the US.
Barrie says: “Property development is something Scott has a lot of passion and talent for.
“I decided that I would give him a helping hand so I went ahead and bought him six properties at a recent auction and gave them to him to help start him off."
True love
Bisexual Scott previously for several months, while working as his assistant. Scott became his 'shoulder to cry on' when Tony was in hospital during treatment in 2018.
Having got his daughter's blessing, Barrie proposed to Scott on a motor yacht near the Croatian island Hvar in August 2020, while the pair were on holiday with Saffron.
“For the past few years Scott has been under a lot of criticism for being with me," Barrie says.
“People have assumed that he is with me because of the money and that he couldn’t in any way be with me for anything else.
“But we are together because we love each other and he has always wanted to be able to stand on his own two feet.
People have assumed that Scott is with me because of the money and that he couldn’t in any way be with me for anything else. But we are together because we love each other
Barrie Drewitt Barlow
“This is his way of showing that he can do his own thing.”
And even the family's 50 dogs – some of whom have competed at Crufts - won't miss out.
Barrie says: "All my 50 Standard Poodles get a gift every year too. This year it's a pampering day at a dog spa that I rent out for a day.
"They will also get new body warmers and leggings. I have also spent £100,000 on a new air conditioned playhouse for them to stop them getting bored - there's a cinema in there so they can watch doggy TV."
He says in future years, Christmas will be in alternate homes.
"Even though Tony and I are no longer together as a partnership and we both have our own boyfriends, we like to spend the important family holidays together," Barrie explains.
“The intention isn’t to move back to the UK on a full time basis, it will be a shared amount of time between the UK and the USA.
“I make so much more money in the US - there is no way I can earn this type of money in Britain.”
To spread a bit of Christmas cheer, Barrie is offering to pay up to £150,000 in surrogacy fees to three childless strangers to help them have a baby through his American surrogacy company, the British Surrogacy Centre.
In the UK it's illegal to pay someone to act as a surrogate, whereas in the US surrogates are typically paid compensation in addition to their expenses.
Barrie says: “I have never taken our success for granted as I grew up in a council house, and Tony and I are self-made millionaires.
“We've worked extremely hard for everything we have – one of our greatest pleasures is giving our children what we never had, but we all strongly feel it's time we also gave something back.
“We want to focus this year on giving the gift of a child to three special couples who have struggled with getting pregnant and having a child naturally.
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"This is our main gift this year. Everything else is superficial in comparison - fatherhood has been our greatest achievement and it's the thing we are most proud of in our lives."
Email Barrie to apply for his surrogacy gift: barrie@bsc-America.com