8 Things to Know about Designer Georgina Chapman, Harvey Weinstein's Wife
The Marchesa designer's driver was reportedly arrested after allegedly fighting with a paparazzi photographer.
Disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein was arrested in New York City Friday morning, and his estranged wife, Georgina Chapman, was reportedly connected to another arrest in Manhattan this week.
Her driver Cristovoa Proenca, 44, was "charged with criminal mischief for allegedly getting handsy with a lensman trying to photograph" the Marchesa designer and her two children on West 11th Street in the West Village, sources told the New York Post.
Chapman's fashion label is working to regain its prominence in the fashion world. After the brand called off its runway show at New York Fashion Week this past February —"Georgina couldn’t go through with it," a fashion insider told the New York Post. "She was too scared."—actress Scarlett Johansson made news when she wore a Marchesa gown to the Met Gala in early May.
The line held its bridal presentation last year on October 5, the same day the New York Times published its bombshell report of Weinstein's alleged sexual harassment involving multiple women that led to his being fired by his own company and ignited a national dialogue on sexual assault. (Weinstein has denied the allegations.)
Here are eight more things to know about the designer.
She was born in London on April 14, 1976.
Her mother, Caroline Wonfor, is a journalist, and her father, Brian Chapman, founded Percol, an organic coffee company. She attended Marlborough College, where Kate Middleton also went, and began modelling in her 20s. One of her first jobs was reportedly an ad for Head & Shoulders.
She went to school for fashion.
Chapman attended the Chelsea College of Art and Design and then the Wimbledon College of Art. She graduated in 2001.
And then she became a successful fashion designer.
She launched Marchesa with Keren Craig, her friend and a fellow ex-model, in 2004. Chapman has judged Project Runway and Marchesa was a finalist for the 2006 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. The brand won Red Carpet Designer of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2007, and Chapman's older brother Edward is now the CEO and co-owner.
She started dating Weinstein in 2004, and the two married in 2007.
The couple met after the Hollywood producer approached her at a party, according to E!. "I had no idea who he was," she told Vogue. "He’s not a person you can sort of ignore or brush off. He’s incredibly charming and so charismatic, it sort of draws you in."
They split their time between a Bank Street townhouse in New York's West Village, a home in Westport, Connecticut (where they married), and London.
Weinstein hosted a fundraiser at his Westport house for Barack Obama in 2012. A Hamptons property that Chapman and Weinstein owned in Amagansett was listed for $12.4 million in 2017 (reportedly because they didn't use it enough), and it sold for $10 million in January, Variety reports.
Weinstein and Chapman have two children together.
Chapman is estimated to be worth a lot of money.
Celebritynetworth.com reports that Chapman's own net worth is approximately $30 million. At one point, the couple was estimated to be worth $255 million combined, according to the Sunday Times of London, which ranked the couple number 42 on its list of fashion millionaires in 2017.
Earlier this year, the New York Post reported that Chapman and Weinstein agreed to a divorce settlement at the end of 2017 that could be worth between $15 million and $20 million for the designer.
Chapman has weathered storms with her husband before.
Italian model Ambra Battilana alleged that Weinstein groped her in March 2015, but the Manhattan district attorney determined, "After analyzing the available evidence, including multiple interviews with both parties, a criminal charge is not supported." The Times story details allegations of sexual harassment Weinstein from multiple women that date back nearly three decades.
Sam Dangremond is a Contributing Digital Editor at Town & Country, where he covers men's style, cocktails, travel, and the social scene.
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