Lady Isabella Hervey has told HELLO! she is feeling happier, calmer and more at peace than she has in years as she builds a new life with her three young children following the end of her unhappy marriage.
The former model, socialite and TV personality, who joined us for an exclusive interview and photoshoot on Portugal’s Algarve, looks fit, strong and healthy – a reflection of the mindset she has adopted as she looks to the future with renewed optimism.
Now surviving on little money and barely any furniture, she is rebuilding a career as a fitness instructor and enjoying simple pleasures as she navigates life as a single mother.
“I’m actually better than I’ve ever been, because I have peace and I have freedom,” says Isabella. “I used to have very high anxiety levels, and now I don’t have that.
© Matt+Lena Photography“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.”
Isabella, who rose to fame in the early 2000s on TV shows such as BBC1’s Celebrity Masterchef, Channel 4’s The Games and Sky One’s Cirque de Celebrité, is now focusing on bringing up her children – Victor, nine, Patrick, seven, and India, six – after her marriage to the wealthy Belgian property entrepreneur Christophe de Pauw ended two years ago.
© Matt+Lena PhotographyIsabella, 43, the youngest daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, has certainly had more than her fair share of trauma. Her father died on her third birthday; her half-brother Lord Nicholas took his own life in 1998 aged 36; and her eldest sibling John, the 7th Marquess, squandered the family fortune before dying less than a year later, following years of drug abuse.
But while life has taken its toll, it is exercise that has been her therapy, particularly cycling, which she credits with giving her the courage to end her marriage. “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,” says Isabella, who battled bulimia as a young woman.
© Matt+Lena PhotographyIsabella’s hobby even led to a relationship with a fellow cyclist, a 40-year-old Portuguese man, but she found the juggle with single motherhood difficult to manage.
“We were together for a year and I really did like him a lot,” she says. “He has many qualities but he doesn’t have children, so he didn’t have a big understanding of the kids. My life has been very stressful for anyone to be in, and he came into my life at the most stressful time, actually. But we’re not together now – it’s complicated.”
© Matt+Lena PhotographyHaving qualified as a personal trainer and sports nutritionist and therapist in her 20s, and made a fitness DVD, Isabella has started to train clients again while building a social media following.
“I love helping people, because if I help people I’m helping myself. 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,” she says.
© Matt+Lena PhotographyFor the full interview pick up a copy of this week’s HELLO! Magazine. For more, visit isabellaherveyfitness.com and follow @roadbikergirlfitness on Instagram.
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