Britain’s first queer dads split after one falls ‘head over heels’ for daughter’s ex-boyfriend
(From L to R): Scott, Tony, Barrie and Saffron. (Screen capture via ITV)
A married man has fallen in love with his daughter’s ex-boyfriend who is half his age, breaking-off a union that lasted 32 years.
Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow became part of history in in the late 90s when they became the first queer men in the UK to father children via surrogacy.
Now the pair are moving to divorce one another when Barrie, 50, fell “head over heels” for his daughter’s ex-boyfriend, 25-year-old bisexual Scott Hutchinson, The Sun reported.
Saffron, the couple’s 19-year-old daughter, has given her blessing to her father re-coupling with her ex-boyfriend.
Now, she and the three men live contently under one roof – in their £6 million mega-mansion in the US.
Millionaire gay man now dating guy half his age insists it’s the ‘real deal’.
Barrie and Scott had been dating discretely for nine months, the paper reported, before publicly declaring their love as well as their intent to marry.
This comes after Scott was Barrie’s personal assistant for the last seven years.
“I’ve fallen in love with Scott and he has done the same,” Barrie.
“I feel stupid at my age to have these feelings about someone other than Tony and half my age.
“But when you know something is right, it’s right. We have not made definite plans but I would like to marry Scott.
“I’m not having a mid-life crisis — if I was having one I’d buy myself a Porsche 911.
“This is the real deal.
“But not everyone will get it, as our living arrangements are unorthodox — I feel like I’m living in a commune, we are all still living together.
“Our children are still in a stable set-up, more so than many other families have.
“But now Dad’s got a new fella and we are one bigger happy family instead.”
Falling in love with daughter’s ex-boyfriend was ‘totally unexpected’.
The pair, who are worth £40 million, called it quits in part because they drifted during the later days of their marriage.
“Tony and I decided many years ago it was better we had separate rooms,” Barrie explained.
“Once this had gone on for three or four years, we slid into a platonic relationship.
“People may judge me but our relationship has lasted a lot longer than many heterosexual relationships. I love Tony more than anyone.
“He’s my true love, I will never not adore him. he’s the most sensitive, loving person.
“But somewhere along the way we turned from lovers into friends.
‘Tony, he’s half my age’.
Barrie added that Tony’s health began to “deteriorate” as he was diagnosed with cancer. It shook the family and took a toll on the duo’s marriage.
“There were days when I wanted to end it all,” he said, “I didn’t want to go on.
“I spent a lot of time with Scott and realised nine months ago that I had started to have feelings.
“Saffron and Scott had been split for many months and this was something totally unexpected. Saffron and Scott were always just friends — their relationship was puppy love.
“They never had a sexual relationship as she was so young. Scott had made no secret of being bisexual which was why their physical relationship never developed.
“It’s funny, it was Tony who first raised Scott with me.
“He said: ‘If I ended up going, Scott would be the person I’d like to see you with.’
“My initial reaction was, ‘Tony, he’s half my age’, but he kept mentioning it.
“I joked with him, ‘Is this your way of getting rid of me?’ and he replied: ‘No, this is my way of seeing you happy before anything happens to me.’
“Over the months, Scott and I developed and Tony and I decided we would move on, but amicably, as we want to be there for our children.”
Couple were first queer men to have a child via surrogacy.
The saga has brought an end to the historic relationship.
In 1999, Barrie and Tony were catapulted into national headlines when they were the first reported queer men to have children via egg donors and surrogates in Britain.
Saffron and Aspen, who will both be 20 next month, were conceived from the donor eggs of Tracie McCune and carried by surrogate Rosalind Bellamy.
But Aspen has an identical twin, Orlando, who is 16.
This is because the embryo from which Aspen was born split in two and frozen for four years before being placed in the womb of surrogate Donna.
While twins Dallas and Jasper were conceived from a Brazilian model egg donor.
Barrie reportedly paid her £35,000 and Donna acted as their surrogate again nine years ago.
