Petra Stunt

Petra Stunt (née Ecclestone; born 19 December 1988) is a British-born heiress, model, fashion designer and socialite.

Early life

Stunt was born in London^[1] as the younger daughter of Croatian former Armani model Slavica and English Formula One billionaire Bernie Ecclestone. She has an older sister, Tamara Jane, and an older paternal half-sister, Deborah.

She attended Trevor-Roberts School, then Francis Holland School, a girls' school, in London.^[2] She reportedly won a place at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, but never took up the offer.^[3]

She contracted viral meningitis at the age of 14, and told the media that it "changed her life forever".^[4] She said "I no longer take my health for granted ... I’m now a health freak and a hypochondriac. I’m obsessed with cleanliness, I eat healthily and take my vitamins." She has since become an ambassador for the Meningitis Trust.^[4]

Fashion career

Growing up, she wanted to be a fashion designer.^[5] She decided to make menswear because it is a "bigger niche" and because "womenswear was too saturated".^[5]

At the age of 19, she created the menswear label FORM, which was sold into retailers including Harrods from October 2008.^[5] In April 2009 it was announced that Petra had signed a contract with the Croatian clothing manufacturer Siscia.^[6] After she reportedly grew "tired of the grind of having to oversee the range", Form collapsed into administration 14 months after start-up, before being liquidated.^[7]

She launched an accessories line called Stark in September 2011.^[8]

Personal life

The Manor in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, owned by Petra Stunt.

Petra dated businessman James Stunt^[9] for four years before they married on 27 August 2011 at Odescalchi Castle, near Rome.^[10] The wedding reportedly cost £12 million and the bride's Vera Wang dress £80,000.^[3][11] The couple signed a pre-nuptial agreement before their wedding.^[10] In February 2013, Petra gave birth to the couple's first child, Lavinia, in the UK. In April 2015 it was reported that Petra gave birth to twin boys, named James Robert Fredrick Stunt Jr and Andrew Kulbir Stunt.^[12] The couple describe themselves as "virtually teetotal".^[3]

She speaks Croatian fluently and understands French and Italian.^[13]

Residences

Stunt purchased The Manor, in the Holmby Hills neighbourhood of Los Angeles, for $85 million from Candy Spelling in July 2011, with $82.4 million borrowed from her mother.^[14][15] It had been on the market for two years with an asking price of $150 million, making it the most expensive residential real estate listing in the US. The 57,000-square-foot (5,300 m²) mansion was the former residence of Candy and Aaron Spelling, and is the largest house in Los Angeles County.^[16] According to a 2012 article in the Wall Street Journal, Stunt had first viewed several other properties, including a 36,000-square-feet property on Sunset Boulevard, priced at $49.5 million. The real estate broker Rick Hilton said: "I showed her several properties but they weren’t grand enough."^[17] In 2014, Petra put The Manor back on the market with a price tag of $150 million.^[18] However, she reportedly turned down an offer that met her price in December 2015. ^{[19] [20]}

She also owns a residence in Chelsea, London that she bought in 2010 for $90 million. The owner of the construction company that worked on the building, Sayed Bukhari, said in the Wall Street Journal article that she had already been offered more than $125 million for the four-storey home.^[17]

References