For a lot of others she would be immensely intimiÂdating. Those long, long, limbs! That perfect bronzed body! The mane of glossy hair! The gargantuan business empire built on the back of lingerie and make-up!
Then there’s the film career (remember her tempting Hugh Grant in Sirens?), her television appearances (she was Joey’s flatmate in American TV series Friends) and her hosting of Britain’s Next Top Model. Is it any wonder then that the formidable, focused, six-foot supermodel might look for a match who is as Âconfident and successful as her, not to mention one who is as rich? Certainly Elle’s new fiancé fits that bill. In fact he’s richer.
He is Jeffrey Soffer, a super-minted real estate developer and hotel heir thought to be worth around £5billion. This week Elle rather cryptically broke the news of their engagement by tweeting the words “Ring magic!†alongside a photo of the London Eye twinkling at night. Many of her friends and family, however, had been expecting the news.
The couple had been dating last year but split up in March only to have a dramatic reconciliation in November when Soffer narrowly survived a helicopter crash in the Bahamas that killed one of his friends and left him with fractured vertebrae. Elle rushed to her former beau’s side and the pair Ârekindled their romance, apparently becoming closer than ever.
But the news of the superÂmodel’s nuptials has already led to some Âcomments about how 48-year-old Elle has once again gone for the same “type†of man. In her case that “type†is rich and successful, with the Ferrari-loving Soffer at the very apex of the pyramid.
Elle, with an £80million fortune of her own, hardly needs someone to keep her. Rather, with a surplus of brains as well as beauty, the woman who only went into modelling in order to fund her law degree at Sydney University can get the pick of the bunch. Therefore she aims high. All the time.
Take the man she was dating during her seven-month split from Soffer last year. He is Roger Jenkins, a 57-year-old British financier estimated to be worth £300million. In 2005 he was said to be the highest-paid banker in London and for years headed up Barclays’ Middle Eastern investment banking division.
The father of Macpherson’s two Âchildren (Arpad, 15, and Aurelius, 10) meanwhile is Arpad “Arki†Busson, a 50-year-old financier who owns a hedge fund company and is thought to be worth £1billion. He and Elle were together for 10 years until 2005 when they went their separate ways and Arki struck up a relationship with actress Uma Thurman.
Going back further Elle dated Âmillionaire gallery owner Tim Jefferies, the former husband of Koo Stark. ÂJefferies dated Elle between 1993 and 1996 and it is thought to be Elle’s jet-set supermodel lifestyle that caused the relationship eventually to fail.
Put the wealth of that lot together and you could make a significant dent in this country’s national debt
Then there’s Elle’s first husband, French fashion photographer Gilles Bensimon, who is also a bit of a hot-shot. When they met Elle was 19 and he was 20 years older and in a top job at Elle magazine where he went on to become creative director. The pair married in 1986 and lived together in France before divorcing in 1989 and Bensimon is now thought to be worth £17million.
Put the wealth of that lot together and you could make a significant dent in this country’s national debt.
However Elle’s beaux have not always been the super-rich elite. Some of them have been celebrities too. In her time Elle has been linked with rock stars Billy Joel and Bryan Adams as well as film star Kevin Costner.
You could argue that Elle moves in rarefied circles and thus is likely to meet top dogs rather than underdogs but you can’t help noticing that nowhere has she ever appeared to have fallen for, say, a humble plumber or pig farmer. But then, if she had, would we all just shrug and say: “Whatever do they have in common?â€
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http://www.express.co.uk/news/showbiz/384336/Elle-MacPherson-s-rich-club
