Tamara Ecclestone on life in the fast lane – and her billion-dollar baby Sophia
Before we go any further, let’s just get one thing out of the way. Yes, Tamara Ecclestone is “still” breastfeeding her three-year-old daughter, and no, she doesn’t have any plans to stop.
It’s generally a couple of times a day – in the morning and evening – and above all else, it really doesn’t (or rather, it shouldn’t) affect anyone other than Tamara and Sophia.
“Honestly, I’m like: ‘Are you kidding me?’” she says, referring to the hoo-ha that kicks off whenever she talks about breastfeeding or posts a picture to social media of Sophia, who is affectionately known as Fifi, on the boob.
“With everything going on in the world, this is so not a big deal. I actually just find it really bizarre. It’s not shocking, it’s just so normal and natural.
“There are people who post pictures half-naked on their Instagram, and I’m really like: ‘Fine, do that, I don’t care. You can post a picture of your bloody vagina and I couldn’t give a s**t. But then why are you giving me a hard time?’”
Tamara, 33, never planned to breastfeed this long, but it’s been “such a beautiful experience” that she’s more than happy to continue for as long as Fifi wants to.
“I’ve never given her a dummy or comforter or a bottle, and if something stressful happens, it’s our way to reconnect and soothe her. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and the most amazing, incredible journey.
“And it’s a bond that no one else can give your child. I don’t think there’s a stronger bond than a mum and a breastfed baby – there’s just something really special.”
As we talk, Fifi is happily scootering around the studio, cared for by the huge team of assorted management, staff and security who have accompanied Tamara here today.
She’s recently started nursery, which has meant the first long spells apart. Tamara, who has practised attachment parenting from day one – supported by husband of four years Jay Rutland, 36 – still can’t get over just how completely she has embraced motherhood.
“Growing up, I wasn’t one of those people who wanted the white picket fence, the Labrador, husband and baby, so this has taken me by surprise.
I didn’t think it would be as life-changing. The minute Fifi was born everything changed, and from the moment she was on the boob it was incredible. We’ve never had a night apart, and I really don’t feel ready. I’m not a believer in doing things just because people say you should. The time will come.”
Today, on her fourth Fabulous shoot, Tamara is approachable and friendly enough, if a little detached in a way that can be typical of the ridiculously wealthy – outwardly charming and always gracious but ever so slightly cool.
Her aquamarine eyes are framed by the most magnificent eyebrows you’ll ever see, and everything about her is glossy and poised.
This week, her latest reality show started on ITVBe. Tamara’s World sees her open the doors of her £70million London home and invite viewers into her life to see what she gets up to. One imagines this involves bathing in Evian, playing dress-up with diamonds and sleeping on a bed of £50 notes – but apparently not.
She might be the heiress to a £2.5billion fortune, but Tamara says she isn’t the type to sit back and wallow in the fruits of the old trust fund.
“The show is basically following my everyday life, from charity [work] to business to bedtime. I think it kind of defeats the object of doing it if it’s scripted and words are put in your mouth, so love it or hate it, this is real.
“I look at my dad [former F1 boss Bernie] at 87, still in the office, and for him it’s not about the money, it’s about his passion. So it’s important for me to do things I’m passionate about and believe in. And I think it’s important to show my daughter that as a woman you can be whatever you want to be.”
Tamara’s own various ventures include running parenting website and baby care company Fifi & Friends and managing Show Dry, her chain of blow-dry bars. She hasn’t inherited her dad’s head for business, however, admitting that she’s unsure about how many staff she employs across the salons (“Oh my god… a lot”). Neither does she have the faintest idea about overheads or profit margins.
“No, to be honest, I’m more the creative side. Like I brought over this brand of hair extensions called Hair Lingerie from America that no one else in Europe has. So I guess I come up with the ideas and then I have people who help me execute them. My dad’s the maths brain of the family, not me!”
She says her work as ambassador for charity Best Beginnings, which aims to reduce inequalities in children’s health across the UK, has opened her eyes to some of the social injustices her privileged lifestyle had previously sheltered her from.
“It’s just an amazing charity because I learned so much that I didn’t know, like apparently geography dictates so much when having a child. Like, if a child is born in Bradford, a mum is more likely to smoke than if it’s born in Westminster.
“It’s crazy to me in this day and age that there’s not more advice, support or information. Geography should not matter.”
But it does. It really does. And for all sorts of reasons that Tamara, through luck of birth, wouldn’t perhaps be immediately aware of.
Ask her what can be done to help redress the imbalances in society and the whopping gap between the haves and have-nots, and she’s unsure.
Should the richest be taxed more, for example?
“I feel like that already happens to a certain degree. I’m not sure it’s something I should get into.”
Do the super-rich (like Bernie with his billions) deserve such vast wealth? Well, yes, says Tamara.
“Sure. Someone like my dad who left school when he was a kid and came from absolutely nothing, literally having nothing and being able to build a business, which is his legacy… we’re so proud of him.”
Notoriously frugal, Bernie was born in Suffolk, the son of a fisherman. He raised Tamara and younger sister Petra as ordinarily as possible, with no designer labels and little frivolity.
Tamara says she and husband Jay are also determined that Fifi understands the value of money and recognises her privilege. But with £70,000 birthday parties, how exactly does she plan to square that circle?
“I think what’s really important is to instil manners and be kind and all those things, above and beyond everything else. But at the same time she’s my little girl, and if she wants another Barbie, I’m just a bit of a pushover!
“I think that the older she gets, I’ll always remind her that she’s lucky and to remember to give back, so it’s not going to be like she can have whatever she wants, whenever she wants.
“I don’t want her to be an obnoxious spoilt child, but I do want her to have the best of everything.
"We’re very into ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, and at her nursery we did harvest festival and I was telling her about how not everyone has everything she has. The older she gets, I’ll definitely reinforce that more.”
Family always comes first for Tamara, and it’s something she stresses throughout our interview. Just recently, she has been supporting sister Petra, 28, through what has been a bitter divorce from husband James Stunt, 35, with allegations that she suffered violence and abuse during the marriage – all of which he denied.
During the proceedings, James attempted to smear the Ecclestone family in a bizarre, rambling YouTube rant, and Tamara admits that it’s been an ordeal for everyone.
“Seeing your sister in any sort of pain or hurt is the worst feeling in the world. We are so close. Our kids are best friends, we are together daily, and you could say when somebody that close to you is hurting, you feel their pain, and I did.
“I fight like a lioness for Petra. I think we probably learned to be so loyal and hard from our father – the protectiveness for each other was instilled into us at a young age. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her.”
When did the family first have concerns about Stunt?
“I can’t say anything about him,” she says firmly. “Like, literally.”
She claims legal reasons prevent her from talking about him personally.
“I’m just very proud of how strong Petra has been and how she’s kept a dignified silence. I’ve been really inspired by how she’s behaved throughout. She’s my baby sister, but she’s a strong, amazing woman.”
Reports last year that Tamara’s own marriage to Essex businessman Jay was on the rocks were wide of the mark.
“It didn’t p**s me off because only the truth can hurt. But it was annoying for Jay because it was a new world to him. He wasn’t as used to it, and he had his friends asking if it was true.”
Tamara and Jay got together in 2013 after a whirlwind romance that saw them meet in the January, marry in June and conceive Fifi by July.
But Tamara never thought for a second that things were moving too fast.
“I was always really certain. I feel like I’d been in enough relationships that were wrong and experienced enough to know when something right came along. People get engaged after 10 years and then split up, so there are no guarantees in life. I followed my heart and it’s paid off.”
They were set up on a blind date by a mutual friend and hit it off from the moment they met.
“I didn’t think anything would come of it. I wasn’t even that into him from the photo! But we’d spoken on text, and I knew he had an amazing sense of humour, which is why I agreed to it.
“It was one of the most fun nights of my life – there was an instant chemistry. From there we were literally inseparable, and after a couple of dates I knew I was in love with him.
“We’re so different in some ways, but the things that are important to us are the same. On parenting, I’m sure there have been moments where he’s been put out, but he says he would never change it and he gives me credit for how Fifi is. He sleeps in the middle of the bed and he gets kicked in the head, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
“He comes to bed later than us and kisses Fifi on her foot every night. And I know if he felt differently [about having her sleeping with them] it could have caused friction in our marriage, but we’re very much on the same page. Fifi is the most important thing to us.”
Curvier than she has been previously after becoming noticeably thinner following Fifi’s birth, Tamara says she’s happier with a little more weight on.
“I was breastfeeding round the clock and the weight loss just strangely happened. But your body tends to find its way back again.
“I wasn’t worried because it happened to my mum [former model Slavica, who divorced Bernie in 2009].
But I don’t like being really skinny. It didn’t feel like my natural body weight, so I’m pleased it sorted itself out.”
These days, Tamara works out a couple of times a week and says she doesn’t give a flying fig about what the scales say any more. She would never mention diets in front of Fifi.
“It used to be something I thought about more, but since Fifi there are so many more important things than body and weight. Truly, it’s the furthest thing from my mind. I just want to be healthy. I spent my 20s all about juicing this, that and the other, and now it’s not something I lose any sleep over.
FEELING SOCIABLE
Funniest person on Twitter?
I love Chrissy Teigen. She’s been blocked by Donald Trump!
Favourite Instagram feed?
Jay. His Insta stories kill me!
Favourite social media platform?
Instagram. It feels like a positive place. I don’t use Twitter much.
Last DM?
It was from John Terry. Jay was having a mani-pedi. I posted a video and John messaged me saying he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
Most famous follower?
I don’t know. Jay has all the apps that tell you who’s following who, but I’m just oblivious.
“[Positive body image] starts in the home with a loving, supportive family. Being pretty and thin aren’t priorities in life, and I don’t want Fifi to grow up with those words constantly being reinforced.
“As a woman, there are a lot more powerful things to be than pretty and thin.”
Has she thought about baby number two? It seems logical that someone so devoted to being a mum would want to have another.
“Yes and no. I would like to give her a sister or a brother, but on the other hand I feel like life is finally getting easier.
“I don’t know, there’s something daunting about going all the way back to square one. If Fifi was pressuring me for a sibling, it would make it easier, but she’s actually saying she doesn’t want one.
“I kind of wish I’d just done it earlier and got it out of the way! Jay definitely wants more, so I think the answer is I will, but I’m just not ready yet.”
- Watch Tamara’s World, Wednesdays, 9pm, ITVBe.
