Aristocrat Lady Isabella Hervey says she has eschewed the trappings of luxury to live a “simple” life in Portugal after the end of her “miserable” marriage to Belgian businessman, Christophe de Pauw.
The 43-year-old shares three children with the millionaire, from whom who she split in a bitter divorce in 2023. The pair share two sons, aged nine and seven, and a daughter, aged six.
Since the breakup, she has reinvented her life as a fitness instructor living in the Algarve in Portugal, stating that she now lives with little money and minimal possessions.
“I’m actually better than I’ve ever been, because I have peace and I have freedom,” she told Hello! magazine. “I used to have very high anxiety levels, and now I don’t have that.”
She explained: “I’m happier with the simple life I have now. When I was married, I was miserable. Sometimes you can be in a nice hotel, or the best restaurant, or have a new designer handbag, but I don’t need any of that. I forget I even have a title; it doesn’t define who I am. I don’t need much to be happy and I think people underestimate that.”
Hervey, who is the youngest daughter of the sixth Marquess of Bristol and sister of Lady Victoria Hervey, said that cycling gave her the confidence and clarity that she needed to leave her ex-husband.
“Cycling made me have the guts to leave my ex. I had low self-esteem, and then I started cycling and started to have clarity,” she explained.
Prior to her marriage and motherhood, Hervey was known for various stints on reality TV, including Celebrity MasterChef, Celebrity Love Island, Channel 4’s The Games and Sky One’s Cirque de Celebrité.
With increasing distance between herself and her difficult past, Hervey says she hopes to build an empire with her newfound energy.
“I love helping people, because if I help people I’m helping myself,” she said. “I’m planning to do boot camps, videos on Instagram, write for magazines and get a sponsor for cycling. My end goal is to build a fitness empire. I want to conquer the world.”
