Lord Maurice Saatchi was devastated when his wife Josephine Hart, a writer, died of cancer in 2011.
According to the Times, the now-78-year-old former Conservative Party chairman and advertising titan, as recently as two years ago, he described his life as being ‘over’ following the tragic loss of Josephine.
The outlet describes the drawing room of his house in West Sussex as a shrine to his deceased spouse of 27 years, and details how he would eat his breakfast at her mausoleum, describing him as ‘still deranged by grief 11 years after her death’.
But now, Lord Saatchi has revealed that he is in a relationship with Lynn Forester de Rothschild.
Lady de Rothschild, 70, was widowed herself two years ago.
It is a positive move forward for Lord Saatchi, who, following the death of his wife, had catalogued the 1,628 letters she had sent him, and claimed to talk every day to his deceased wife, though ‘she doesn’t answer’.
Lord Saatchi, who is best known as running the world’s biggest advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi, with his brother Charles, was also the most trusted political guru of Margaret Thatcher, and famous for his work.
Following his late wife’s death, the multimillionaire became reclusive.
Lord Saatchi and his late wife Josephine Hart are pictured arriving at the UK Premiere and Press night of ‘Cloaca’ at The Old Vic Theatre on September 28, 2004 in London
However, according to the Times, finding love once more means the 78-year-old ‘appears happy and relaxed’ – describing his disposition as ‘transformational’, and the man himself admitting he is ‘in love again’ with Lady de Rothschild.
The now-couple met some 25 years ago, when their respective partners were still alive: Lord Saatchi was married to his wife Josephine Hart and Lady de Rothschild was with Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, who she wed in 2000., after the couple were introduced by Henry Kissinger.
Speaking to the outlet, Lord Saatchi said: ‘Lynn and Evelyn became friends of ours. We were often a four. We’d go on holiday together, have dinners. Then Josephine died, followed by Evelyn. We went from four to three to two.’
He revealed how Evelyn had been ‘one of the only people who could lift [him] out of [his] sunken gloom’, following Josephine’s death.
Before his death at 91, Sir Evelyn had suffered from a stroke, which left him as a wheelchair user. The once-strong man ‘had shrunk and was almost unable to move any more’.
Following the death of Sir Evelyn, the Saatchi and Lynn continued their friendship, with Saatchi noting that he never considered the latter as anything other than a friend, until they were having dinner together one night at Harry’s Bar, and suddenly, he ‘realised that we could make it happen’.
Despite knowing each other for years, their relationship moved slowly, due to their separate lives – different homes, their own children. Lynn has grandchildren in America, and will so spend holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas there.
Speaking with frankness about how the new love has changed his life, Saatchi said: ‘ I thought life was over. People say I was very miserable and unhappy for years. I don’t remember it, but it must have been because I was in mourning. The nature of Josephine’s death was dire. It felt a calamity, a catastrophe.’
Her death from primary peritoneal took just 14 months from her initially suffering from a mild stomach ache before one Christmas. During a visit to the doctor, she had a scan.
A specialist told the couple they’d found something: ‘Malignant. Advanced. Inoperable.’ Just 14 months later, on June 10, 2011, she died. She was just 69-years-old.
Lord Saatchi and Lady Lynn Forester de Rothschild are seen attending the launch of his book Orgasm at The New York Public Library on May 02, 2024
The couple kept the diagnosis from their friends, but Saatchi has described cancer as ‘the most frightening word in the English language’ for him, noting how the disease and treatment caused weakness, nausea, weight loss and fatigue.
According to Saatchi, his sympathy for those who battle decades long illnesses – as well as their partners – is huge. He describes the experience, whatever the disease, is, he says, ‘dreadful, harrowing, extremely uncomfortable to watch’.
When it comes to whether he feels any guilt about moving on, he says he believes that if the now-couple’s former partners we ‘looking down now’, they would say ‘this is good’.
If he had died, he said he would want Josephine to ‘to live like Miss Havisham with all the lights out and the curtains drawn’. He adds that he did wait for 12 years before getting together with somebody new.
Saying he has no plans to return to politics, Saatchi discusses his new book called Orgasm. Although it comes with an eye-watering price tag of £80, it is described as ‘beautifully created, with gorgeous illustrations and musings about his life’.
Describing the tome, which claims to debunk a series of contemporary myths including Dinner Parties are Fun and Conservatives are Cruel, Saatchi says it is ‘like a commonplace book. Marcus Aurelius started it. Authors then collected things they saw and heard and put them together in the view they may be interesting to others’.
When it comes to the title, Saatchi says he chose the word Orgasm as it is ‘one of the few words that still make people feel uncomfortable’, but rather than being literal, it applies to explosions of the mind.
Now at the age of 78, Saatchi opens up about how he has changed from when he was just 24, and set up what would become his hugely successful advertising agency, saying at that time, he wanted to do whatever would make him ‘king of the world’.
Now? He just wants ‘to be happy’.
Orgasm by Maurice Saatchi (Eris, £84) is available now.
