Mary Portas splits with wife Melanie Rickey after 17 years together
Melanie Rickey and Mary Portas (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Liberty London )
‘Mary Queen of Shops’ star Mary Portas has split with her wife after being together for 17 years.
Television presenter and retail consultant Mary Portas has revealed that she and her wife Melanie Rickey, who have been together since 2002, have split up.
Portas and Rickey, who have a six-year-old son, converted their civil partnership to a full marriage in 2014 and were one of the first to do so when same-sex marriage was made legal in the UK.
The Sun reports that the pair have spent the past year “consciously uncoupling” and have already sold their £5million home in North West London.
They released a statement saying: “After 17 years together we have decided to separate. There is no one else involved.
“We have spent the last year consciously managing our separation in as good-heartedly, open, and mature a way as possible to ensure a smooth, amicable evolution for us.
“We remain a family and are committed co-parents to three wonderful humans (plus Walter the dog!) who are our priority. We remain good friends, and will share much together going forward.”
Portas and Rickey’s son was conceived through IVF in 2013
Rickey gave birth to son Horatio in 2013. Their son was conceived via IVF, with Mary’s brother as the sperm donor.
“Lawrence was the first one there [with us] and he picked him up and it was just very emotional,” she told The Times of her son’s birth.
“I said to him ‘Thank you’, and he said ‘It’s my pleasure’, and we just held each other. And now, when I look at Horatio, he is a complete mix of [Ms Rickey] and me.”
“Of course, now I know that it could only ever have been Lawrence who was Horatio’s father,” she said.
In 2017, Horatio was shown on Instagram donning a pair of expensive £1,200 Robert Wun shoes.
