UK’s first OnlyFans millionaire in bitter feud with her ex over their £1.2million mansion and Surrey flat
AN ONLY Fans millionaire has settled a bitter court battle with her ex-fiance over their £1.2million mansion and Surrey flat
Model Dannii Harwood, 41, shot to fame after becoming the first UK adult industry star to earn £1 million on Only Fans.
Dannii – who once sang in the same church choir as Katherine Jenkins – is currently engaged to her partner, Chris May, but was locked in a legal fight with her ex, Paul Thornton, 48, over their former mansion in Dorset and a flat in Surrey.
Paul said he was due a share of their four-bed £1.2m mansion home, which was in her name, while she claimed a half share of a £350,000 investment property they bought in his name.
The case was set for a week-long fight at Central London County Court, but has now been settled after a last-minute agreement between the former couple.
In a court order, the pair agreed to sell the flat and split the proceeds of sale, with Dannii giving her ex £35,000 to drop any claim over her home in Bournemouth.
Mum-of-one Dannii grew up in Neath, south Wales, daughter of a forklift driving dad, and sang in the same church choir as Welsh opera star Katherine Jenkins.
In 2020, she claimed to have made herself a millionaire in the space of about 18 months after beginning her career on the ‘Only Fans’ website.
The site is a subscription platform for content creators, mainly adult industry stars, with more than 170 million registered users subscribing to watch uploaded videos.
Dannii and heating and air con engineer Paul began their relationship in 2004 and in 2006 bought a home in Sutton, Surrey, and the basement flat beneath it as an investment.
But while the house was in their joint names, the flat was put into Paul’s name alone, as they were concerned Dannii was too young to get a buy-to-let mortgage.
They subsequently had a daughter, now 14, and after selling their Sutton home in 2012, bought their mansion in Bournemouth, for £710,000 in 2012.
The four-bed detached house, which boasts a substantial driveway is now valued online at £1.2 million.
Their relationship was troubled, with two separations over the years, before they parted ways entirely in 2019, court documents reveal.
But their breakup resulted in a row over the basement flat and the Bournemouth house in her name.
Dannii demanded sale of the flat on the basis that, despite it legally being in her ex’s name, it was in fact jointly owned.
“The parties’ common intention was that they would own the beneficial interest in the basement flat equally, just as they held the ownership of the upstairs house,” said her barrister Greg Williams in court papers.
She said she had put up the £15,000 deposit and carried out renovations at the flat, including tiling, installing a kitchen and bathroom, and decking in the courtyard.
In his solicitors’ response to her suggestion, Paul agreed to the split, but said the sale proceeds should be withheld, as he had his own claim to a share of their former home in Bournemouth.
He also said he had obtained the mortgage on the flat personally, put money up himself for the down-payment and had personally done renovation works on the flat.
He said he planned to issue a claim for a share of the Bournemouth house.
The dispute over the flat sale was set to go before Judge Nigel Gerald last week, but after an agreement outside of court the former couple decided to settle their differences without a trial.
The judge said the flat would be sold and the proceeds shared 50-50, with Dannii then giving Paul £35,000 from her share in “full and final satisfaction of any actual or prospective claims” against her home.