EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Heiress Petra Ecclestone reveals she is lucky to be alive after her dentist ‘got high’ during a ten-hour operation
She’s the heiress who now favours life in Los Angeles, where she owned a house with 123 rooms while retaining a residence in Chelsea, West London, which, as I disclosed recently, she’s prepared to sell… for £175 million.
But as Petra Ecclestone, the younger daughter of Formula 1 billionaire Bernie Ecclestone, once reflected: ‘Money can’t buy happiness… it buys things.’
In fact, as the 34-year-old now reveals, it can also make you a tempting target — even for your dentist. In a jaw-dropping account, Petra recalls an appointment for ‘a routine touch-up on my veneers’ — during which her wisdom teeth were also removed.
What followed might have been lifted from a lurid Hollywood script.
After she had been sedated — for what transpired to be more than ten hours — the dentist ‘decided to get high while he was operating’. When her husband, Essex entrepreneur turned property specialist Sam Palmer, came to collect her, ‘[the dentist] could barely stand and was talking all sorts of rubbish, plus spilling his drink all over the place’.
Yet the aftermath was much worse. In an attempt to rectify the damage, Petra underwent ‘over 50 hours of dental procedures’, was sedated at least eight times and had five root canal operations. ‘I am lucky to be alive,’ she says, thanking her current dental team for helping her ‘through this process’.
But it’s not an entirely happy ending. ‘This dentist is still seeing patients daily,’ says Petra, who explains that, following the botched operation five years ago, she sought advice from ‘two of the best lawyers for malpractice.
‘They told me I would not be successful in [a legal action] as I signed a waiver and agreement before the procedure’.
‘Please do as much research as you can on your doctor,’ adds Petra. ‘Also do not pick a doctor just because they may see ‘celebrities’. This does not mean they are [always] skilled at what they do.’
Petra Ecclestone leaves after an early family dinner at Giorgio Baldi with her husband Sam Palmer and their kids, July 23, 2023
All her life, Her Majesty the Queen was never happier than when at Balmoral, especially when presiding over a picnic somewhere on the 50,000-acre estate, when the company mattered much more than the food which would emerge from Tupperware containers.
It appears that her spirit lives on in our new Queen’s son, Tom Parker Bowles.
‘So what makes a decent picnic?’ muses Tom, 48.
‘The company, of course. Far rather a Boots meal deal for two with good mates than a kilo of caviar with bores.’
Tom doesn’t have anyone in mind, does he? Certainly no one in California…
Displaying her trademark candour, Dame Esther Rantzen acknowledges there are times when she wonders if her lung cancer was caused by the asbestos in the BBC studios at Lime Grove, West London, where she worked for many years.
But that wasn’t the only potential hazard at ‘Slime Grove’, as the building became known before it was demolished in 1993.
‘There was the time when gentlemen dressed as spacemen walked through my office and out to the flat roof where the water tanks were, looking for Legionnaires’ Disease,’ Dame Esther, 83, tells me.
‘I can’t say it was the healthiest place I’ve ever worked.’
Dame Esther Rantzen at home in Hampshire, Summer 2020
It is often said that home is where the heart is — yet TV explorer Levison Wood is finding more comfort in being homeless.
The ex-Army officer, who trained with Prince Harry at Sandhurst, reveals he’s quitting life in the Big Smoke for a destination unknown.
‘I’ve decided to sell or give away a lot of my possessions, rent out my flat and hit the road for six months,’ he declares. ‘You can get tired of London. I don’t plan on using Twitter or social media too much.’
Wood, 41, adds: ‘There’s a lot to be said for voluntary nomadism’ — referring to a way of life where people move from place to place.
The Staffordshire-born traveller is no stranger to adventure as he has previously walked the length of the Nile in a documentary for Channel 4.
I hear Robbie Williams will soon be raising a glass to decades of sobriety by launching his own range of non-alcoholic drinks.
The pop star, 49, applied to trademark the brand Feel Real — which will feature a selection of his own beers and cocktails, plus juices and water for the teetotal drinker.
The venture could be a lucrative investment for the former Take That star, who has been sober for more than 20 years.
Having conquered his own addictions, the father-of-four has previously criticised the UK over its drink and drugs culture.
‘The thing about drugs and drink is the delusion,’ said Robbie. ‘In the UK and many places, it’s as natural as breathing.
‘That paradigm that you get your entertainment, and you deal with life from numbing yourself… I’m just finding it interesting as a sober person, we didn’t need to do that.
‘It was just the route the river was taking you.’
British singer and songwriter Robbie Williams speaks during a press conference on July 23, 2023 in Schladming, Austria, to promote his Ski-Opening shows
While most actors would be ecstatic to land a starring role in a West End Harold Pinter production, Dame Harriet Walter once felt otherwise.
The stage and screen star admits she ended up in a fit of rage when she was offered a part in the Nobel Prize winner’s play Old Times alongside Sixties icon Julie Christie. ‘I was furious when I first got offered it,’ says the Succession star.
‘It was the summer and I thought, ‘I’m going to go away on an adventure’. My agent rang me up and said, ‘Will you do this play that goes on in the West End on the something of August?’ I literally threw something across the kitchen.’
Following a successful stint, she reflects: ‘I loved it in the end.’
Socialite Lady Victoria Hervey regularly voices conspiracy theories about Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre — but now she is planning to record her findings in a self-funded documentary.
‘I’m interviewing a few key insiders that have never spoken before,’ she tells me at the Joy Ride gala screening in London.
‘I’m working with someone who I’ve known for about 25 years. He’s very discreet.’
The Marquess of Bristol’s sister, 46, even plans to go to Florida to interview convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. ‘I’m hoping to speak to Ghislaine in prison,’ she adds: ‘I believe a lot of her convictions are not correct and she should not be in that jail.’
Maxwell, the former partner of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, was found guilty on charges related to sex trafficking in 2021.
Lady Victoria Hervey attends The Grand Prix Ball 2023 at The Hurlingham Club on July 5, 2023
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