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68 year-old Monty Python star John Cleese is in a new relationship with the VP of marketing at Radar Magazine, 34 year-old Jane Smiley. The two went on a vacation with to Italy and Switzerland recently and the Daily Mail has quotes from both of them on their new relationship. There’s also a photograph of the two of them together, with Smiley looking a little sheepish. It’s hard to believe they would speak so candidly to the Daily Mail, and it’s possible these quotes are taken from somewhere else or even fabricated given the source. The Mail phrases things so vaguely that it’s hard to tell when they’re telling the truth or have an exclusive interview. Even a friend of Cleese who joined the couple briefly on vacation chimes in to say that he didn’t think they were hitting the sheets - before they went on that jaunt to Europe together. Cleese is going through a divorce from his third wife of over 15 years, Alyce Faye Eichelberger, and his friend jokingly calls the vacation with Smiley a “divorcey-moon.”
Cleese spied his opportunity when his old friend Michael Winner, the movie director and restaurant critic, arranged a six-day road trip to Switzerland and Italy.
The 72-year-old Death Wish director dubbed it the ‘Divorcey-moon’ to mark his friend’s split from therapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger after 16 years.
When the two men reached Zurich, Miss Smiley flew out from the US to join them, and she and Cleese continued their journey alone through Switzerland and Italy to Vaduz, Lake Como and Bergamo.
Cleese explained: ‘We met in New York at a power breakfast and spent a few days together in Switzerland and Italy and we liked each other a lot, but the problem is she works in Chicago for a magazine and I’m in California and London.
‘I am not sure when we’ll be seeing each other again. Unfortunately we are living very far apart citywise.’Miss Smiley said: ‘We met a few weeks ago at the Regency Hotel in New York and we had this natural connection and became firm friends.
‘We’re at the stage where we are still getting to know each other.
‘At the moment it is a very close, very warm friendship.
‘He is twice my age. He’s very stimulating and extremely funny and charming.
‘I’m American and had never heard of Monty Python or Fawlty Towers, although I had seen A Fish Called Wanda.’
Winner, who dined with the couple in Zurich, said: ‘It was almost a blind date.
‘I don’t think they’d had a major consummation before that, if I may put it that way.
‘She’s delightful and definitely a girlfriend.’
Cleese has been in London working on a series of projects including recording a commentary for a new set of BBC DVDs for Fawlty Towers.
[From The Daily Mail]
If Smiley grew up in America she’s not likely to use phrases like “firm friends,” and it sounds awkward the way they have her speaking so stiffly and saying obvious things like “He is twice my age.” Maybe everyone talked to the Daily Mail assuming they’d make up and embellish shit anyway, but I doubt it. Good for these two, though. They’re both single and old enough to make a decision about who they want to date. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to work out given the way they’re presumably talking about it. It sounds like they’re interested in each other because they found a connection but that they’re not sure they’re right for each other given the age difference. That kind of spark doesn’t always evolve into a romantic relationship, but they’re giving it a chance anyway.
Written by Celebitchy
Posted in Hookups, John Cleese
20 Responses to “John Cleese, 68, in new relationship with Radar Magazine VP, 34”
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What is John Cleese standing next to?
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No idea-but it looks radioactive
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What is wrong with her face? She looks…odd. And sunburnt.
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I love John Cleese and I think it’s great. I can actually believe that he would have talked to The Daily Mail but I doubt he would have said anything useable or factual. He’s fantastic!!
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I was thinking the same thing Lauri. Did she fall asleep in the sun or decide to go for a chemical peel to pass the time while on vacation? I have an old suitcase that’s the same colour as her face.
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She looks like Jocelyn Wildenstein.
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I find it perfect they visited Switzerland - did they pop in to visit Jocelyn Wildenstein’s childhood home?
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This info was first published in Michael Winner’s column in the Sunday Times about two weeks ago.
Cleese went on a “pre-divorce” break with Winner who he has known for years.
Winner had a lot of (bad, bad) things to say about Cleese’s (about to be) ex (well, Cleese couldn’t say it could he, but Winner could) and in that column he mentioned that he had been joined by this woman. Being from the UK I have absolutely no idea who she is but as Cleese is (I think) 3 times married he’s better watch out, as his judgment is poor. As Rod Steward said - he’s going to cut out marriage to unsuitable women he’s just going to date them and buy them a house …..
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I hear ya, C, I’m a 35 year old American woman and have known of, AND had a MAJOR star crush on John Cleese since I was probably 10 years old!!!! Even if you’re not a fan of Python humor you’ve at least HEARD of them I would think! Especially if you’re the frickin VP of Radar Magazine…
She’s frightening looking, too, dammit.
And ok, maybe this is all just sour grapes cos I still have that major star crush on Cleese, lol.
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When I first watched John Cleese, it was the show Fawlty Towers. Prunella Scales played his shrewish wife, and she always wore a hairstyle and clothes that aged her. And there was a young-looking, hot, blonde thang who was the maid, played by Connie Booth. Guess which one was his real-life wife at the time?
So I can’t help but imagine him much younger women, even though Booth wasn’t much younger than him. And I can’t fault him too much for being with younger women since I like older men.
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aHHHHHHH….what happened to that poor womans face?? 30’s…..yeah try mid-50’s and badly at that.
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Spending 6 days with Michael Winner!?!?!? Jesus wept!
But thanks for that info Sandra, I’ve not read the Sunday Times in ages, but I did used to enjoy rolling my eyes over Winner’s Dinners. I DID wonder why he’d give a quote to the Daily Mail, but not to his employers - Rupert Murdoch has excommunicated people for less!
But the Daily Mail’s article was odd in that it didn’t include how this would impact on their two main obsessions - the effect Cleese’s bit of skirt would have on house prices… and did she have any involvement with the death of Princess Diana?
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Poor John. He must have lost his eyesight.
Btw, this is not a sheepish smile….it’s a mean botox grin, influenced by drastic sunburn and blown-up lips. I second, she does look like Wildenstein
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never heard of monty python! PSH! as if.
seriously. as someone who has memorized the entire series, i find it insulting.he’s looking a little old for 68 isn’t he? none of the pythons (except for palin, and he’s the youngest) aged that well
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Looks like he’s holding a raw steak.
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She’s a fair skinned white woman who had a chemical peel. She should have waited another week to take photos.
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She looks like a cast member from Monty Python.
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Is she badly burned, embarrassed, just finish painting a red room, or is she half-tomato ?
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I’m an American 31 year old, and knew about Monty Python and Fawlty Towers as a child. Who hasn’t heard of Monty Python?! It’s gotta be fake.
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