My toddler bought me a Tiffany bracelet & I also got a Mercedes for Father’s Day, says millionaire Barrie Drewitt-Barlow
MOST dads receive a card and a small gift for Father’s Day – if they are lucky – but not everyone is multi-millionaire Barrie Drewitt-Barlow.
The Manchester-born businessman, 51, who is worth a staggering £200m, received a diamond Tiffany bracelet from his toddler and a Mercedes from his other kids.
Dad-of-eight Barrie told Fabulous: “We have had an amazing Father’s Day, all my kids have been so generous again this year.
“I got a Diamond Tiffany bracket from [two-year-old] Valentina, that [24-year-old] Saffron picked out, a matching Diamond tennis bracelet and necklace from Saffron, also from Tiffany.
“Aspen and Orlando upgraded my G Wagon [Mercedes] in the USA to a new one.
“I feel so thankful and blessed.
“Scott and I have had a wonderful day with Valentina and Romeo today too, I really feel like my family is complete now, I’m so thankful for everything.”
While his jet-setting family were all over the world on Sunday, they did make the effort to send their love.
He said: “This was the first time we have not all been together but I really have to say they all made an effort to call and spend time with me and Scott today.”
Barrie and ex-husband Tony made their money from various business ventures including a trans-Atlantic surrogacy business and a global medical research company.
Barrie is used to £20k meals out and living in seven lavish mansions around the world, including in Florida and Essex.
Giving up his millions, he was recently forced to live on a council estate with a £57 budget for a week on Channel 5’s Rich House Poor House, as he swapped lives with a struggling mum.
Meanwhile Barrie, who made history with ex-partner Tony for being Britain’s first gay dads, handed over his £6 million Essex mansion and chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce to single mum Ocean for the TV experience.
Upon arrival, the council flat was a far cry from the houses he lives in, which have a minimum of six bedrooms and full 24/7 staff including a driver and personal barman.
At the end of the experience, he prompted Ocean to break down in tears, investing £250,000 in her baby food business.
Speaking of the experience, he said: “I know half the country is struggling right now and I feel for them, I wanted to maybe help at least one family have a better future and taking part in this show, it has helped me to do that.”
The millionaire has forever ruled out shopping at bargain retailers Lidl and Primark in the future though, and added: “Hell no! It is just disposable clothing and horse meat, no thanks.”
Barrie said Ocean got in touch on Father’s Day too.
He added: “I woke up to lots of messages including one from Ocean who we did the show with.
“She sent a huge box of chocolates and flowers with a message to the two best days in the world, it brought a tear to my eye.
“I feel like I have another daughter right now.”
A few years ago, Barrie confirmed he had fallen for daughter Saffron’s ex Scott, and they are now engaged, and share Valentina, two, and baby Romeo, who arrived last August via surrorage.
Barrie, who spends £4million for his family’s Christmas each year, bought Romeo a very unconventional gift when he was born; a £2.5 million yacht.
The proud dad said: “We have literally bought every designer that you can imagine already.
“Burberry, Versace, Dior, Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, if a designer sells baby clothes we have snapped them up.
“But it isn’t just Scott and I who are spoiling Romeo.
“Before he was born our eldest daughter Saffron spent over £10k on clothes, the moment he was born, another £20k. she has totally gone over the top.”
After Barrie, Scott and Barrie’s ex-husband Tony Drewitt-Barlow all donated sperm, Barrie and Scott chose Romeo’s gender through sex selection.
The family doesn’t screen their kids at birth to see whose DNA ended up fertilising the egg and it is Barrie and Scott’s name on the birth certificate.
The family has been doting on Romeo ever since his arrival and Barrie admits that this will be his last baby.
“I keep forgetting how old I am,” he says.
“It’s hard going with a new baby but I wouldn’t be without him now, we are totally in love with him.
“I have made the decision that this is my last child. I’m hanging up the hat and calling it a day.
“We just spent £2.5m on a yacht for Romeo and named it after him.”
However, Barrie says that there is no chance of Valentina suffering from any jealousy when it comes to Romeo.
“In Valentina’s bubble, it is Christmas day every day,” Barrie says.
INSIDE BARRIE’S UNCONVENTIONAL LIFE
Barrie and Tony, who became civil partners in 2006, made history in 1999 when they became the first same-sex couple to be listed as “parent one” and “parent two” instead of “mother” and “father” on the birth certificate of their twins.
The dads won an historic court battle to get their names listed.
Twins Saffron and Aspen were conceived using both men’s sperm and a donor egg from the US.
Since then, the family have spent £1 million growing their brood, with Orlando, now 17, born in 2003.
Orlando is technically triplet to older siblings Saffron and Aspen, but the egg and sperm was kept on ice.
Then came ten-year-old twins Jasper and Dalllas in 2010.
Barrie and Tony married in 2014 but separated three years later – with Barrie going on to become engaged to his former PA, Scott, and Tony meeting his new partner Brent.
Scott is the ex-boyfriend of the couple’s daughter, Saffron.
Barrie and Scott’s daughter, Valentina, who was conceived using both of their sperm, was born in 2020.
Romeo was born on 12th August 2022 via emergency C-Section.
“She gets what she wants when she wants it. She has a personal chef, a whole play room full of the latest gadgets and toys, full time live-in nanny and a team of house staff that take care of her every need, including a full time hair stylist that styles her hair every day.
“She is the ultimate daddies girl, a total Princess!”
Until now Barrie and Scott had remained living with Tony in their £6million, 10-bedroom Florida mansion, with Tony and his new partner Brent shacked up in a separate wing.