Who Is Pippa Middleton's Gorgeous Brother-In-Law?
Pippa Middleton didn't mean to steal the limelight when her big sister married Prince William in 2011, but all eyes were apparently on the maid of honor as she followed Kate Middleton into a packed Westminster Abbey. While the soon-to-be Duchess of Cambridge looked stunning in her designer wedding dress, it was Pippa's curve-hugging gown that really got people talking, turning her — or at least, a certain part of her — into an overnight sensation. "It's a bit startling to achieve global recognition (if that's the right word) before the age of 30, on account of your sister, brother-in-law and your bottom," she said in the foreword to her 2012 book, Celebrate (via the Daily Mail). Pippa returned to the headlines in 2017 on her own wedding day, but this time, it was her turn to be upstaged.
Like her sister, she looked gorgeous in her wedding gown, but the public seemed far more interested in her shiny new brother-in-law. "The Middleton sisters have hot husbands, but there may be an ever hotter man hanging around the girls these days," Hollywood Life reported. For those of you who didn't frantically research him at the time, that man is reality TV star Spencer Matthews. Interest in Spencer spiked when his older brother, James Matthews, wed into the Middleton family, and we've learned an awful lot about this rich and handsome Brit since then. Keep reading to find out who Pippa Middleton's gorgeous brother-in-law really is.
He wasn't really Made in Chelsea
Spencer Matthews rose to prominence on the BAFTA-winning Made in Chelsea, a structured reality show that follows the exploits of affluent young adults living in and around the famous cosmopolitan district of London. Chelsea is home to a number of rich and famous Brits, though Matthews isn't originally from anywhere near there. He might have been made in Chelsea in a professional sense, but the well-spoken TV star was born in Sheffield, a city known primarily for its steel production. The fact that Matthews now feels more at home in the swanky suburbs isn't surprising, but he still connects with his more modest roots from time to time.
"I got sent to a posh school [...] so that's why I speak like this," he told The Sun. "I'm actually northern at heart. I occasionally go there, but not really. I have to say I prefer stuff down here but I love the characters up there. There's nothing wrong with Sheffield, I just personally prefer it down here." Matthews has to be careful what he says about Sheffield, because it's his dad's home town, and his dad is worth a lot of money. Pippa Middleton's father-in-law made millions in the motor trade and later ventured into luxury hotels. His sons are now worth a pretty penny, too. According to Spears, Spencer's personal net worth is around $3.8 million.
He admitted to steroid abuse
Spencer Matthews appeared in the very first episode of Made in Chelsea and went on to become one of the longest-serving cast members. By 2015, he'd starred in ten seasons of the show and was ready to move on. "I'd love to help out the show if they feel like they needed me in a scene, [...] but I'm not looking to go back to Made In Chelsea as a cast member again," he told Digital Spy. Hoping it would expose him to a wider audience, Matthews signed up for I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! – a popular reality show in which celebs compete in skin-crawling challenges in the Australian jungle. He lasted just three days.
The Made in Chelsea stalwart was given the boot by ITV bosses after he admitted that he'd been using steroids. "When the reality came in that I was going home on the third day, I was just absolutely devastated," he told the BBC, following the scandal. "For someone that doesn't get anxious or depressed, I felt pretty anxious and depressed. It was a bit of a dark time." Matthews admitted that he'd made a stupid mistake but added that he didn't feel as though he was doing anything wrong at the time. "I was under the impression recreational use of steroids was fine, especially as they seem to be, very worryingly, readily available."
He was a fugitive for two weeks
The steroid scandal may have left Spencer Matthews in a dark place, but he soon dragged himself out of it. His long stint on Made in Chelsea meant he was still in demand, and the reality star went on to appear in several other shows in 2017 alone. He was a contestant on a revived game show called The Crystal Maze and was crowned the winner of The Jump – a notoriously dangerous show in which celebs take on the sport of ski jumping. Matthews jumped an incredible 18.98 meters to win, breaking the previous record. He followed up his victory with an appearance on the BAFTA-nominated reality show Celebrity Hunted, though he couldn't beat the odds this time.
The popular Channel 4 show pits contestants against an elite team of hunters — former government agents and counter-terrorism pros trained to track down fugitives. The aim is to avoid capture, though remaining incognito while on the run in Britain isn't easy. Matthews teamed up with his old Made in Chelsea mate Jamie Laing for the show, though Laing didn't exactly rise to the challenge. "Jamie and I love each other but our opinions on certain things do differ," Matthews told the Express. "Jamie was busy wanting to go to supermarkets and stuff. It's like, 'Jamie, we're on the run, supermarkets have cameras.'" The pair was caught with just two days remaining.
He cheated his way to the Celebrity MasterChef final
In 2018, Spencer Matthews returned to reality television via the cooking show Celebrity MasterChef. He made the final, but his place in the last three was called into question over allegations that he'd been secretly getting lessons from multi-Michelin-star chef Jean-Christophe Novelli. "There is no way that Spencer should win Celebrity MasterChef having had private tuition from a Michelin star chef," one irate fan tweeted (via the Express). "The man has no principles!" Did Matthews really cheat by getting some tips prior to competing on the show?
Yes, but they didn't come from Novelli. When he appeared on cookery-come-chat show Sunday Brunch in 2019, the reality star revealed who had really coached him in advance. "Honestly, I got help off a pal, but it wasn't [Novelli]," Matthews claimed him (via Digital Spy). "So that whole thing really confused me, because Jean-Christophe Novelli, he was saying it was true — I've never met him. Never heard of him, prior to that. My friend James Lowe felt very deflated — James Lowe helped me cheat."
In the end, those tips he picked up weren't enough to secure him the MasterChef crown. Matthews was defeated by actor and fellow reality star John Partridge.
He has a reputation as a ladies' man
Spencer Matthews dated a lot of women during his time on Made in Chelsea. Radio Times noted that he was always "at the center of the long and winding Made in Chelsea relationship web. His infamous flirting and persistent use of the word 'hun' are known throughout Chelsea (and now the nation) so any guide to Sloaney heartbreaking must begin at his door." Matthews has been romantically involved with Caggie Dunlop, Louise Thompson, Stephanie Pratt, Lucy Watson, Lauren Hutton, and model Funda Onal. He called the latter "immature" and "boring" after they split. When he released his book, Matthews lifted the lid on all the girls we didn't see him with on TV.
Confessions of a Chelsea Boy is full of material that would make any self-respecting royal blush Beefeater red. In the saucy memoir, the globetrotting Lothario (who is reportedly fluent in French) admits to an encounter with several "nifty Canadian girls" and recalls meeting a stunning "professional girl" in a Johannesburg bar. That's just the tip of the iceberg: He claims he slept with around 1,000 women before the age of 25. "Being in the public eye unfortunately makes you a bit more attractive to the opposite sex," he wrote (via Digital Spy).
His brother died on Mount Everest
In May 1999, Spencer Matthews' 23-year-old brother, Michael Matthews, became the youngest Brit to summit Mount Everest. Not long after that, he became the 162nd person to die on the mountain. Michael, a successful London trader and experienced climber, was reportedly separated from his guide while descending through the mountain's so-called death zone. The British Mountain Guides professional standards committee cleared the guide of any wrongdoing, but the Matthews family was not convinced.
"Some will suggest that we're wealthy people who want to make people suffer for the death of our son," Michael's millionaire father, David Matthews, said (via The Guardian). "But our boy died, we've looked into the reasons why, as most loving families would do, and we believe this is a shocking tale of deceit, desertion and a cover-up."
The sad truth is that nobody really knows what happened to Michael in his final moments, as Spencer explained in his book, Confessions of a Chelsea Boy. "His loss was devastating for the family and over time this became worse because the circumstances surrounding Michael's death have never been fully explained," he wrote (via The Sun). Spencer noted that Pippa Middleton's future husband, James Matthews, took the news particularly hard. "With just a year and a half between them, he and Mike were the closest of friends. The loss was heartbreaking for James."
He married a fellow reality TV star
Speaking to Hello! magazine ahead of his appearance on The Jump, Spencer Matthews insisted he wasn't looking for love on the show. "I'm focusing far too much on the competition to be worrying about ladies," he claimed, before adding. "Well, obviously I have my eye on them. My eye is always somewhere, isn't it! But I'm making an effort to remain focused on the end prize, which is winning the show." He did win the show, but he also won the heart of fellow contestant Vogue Williams.
Williams is best-known for her appearances on Dancing with the Stars and Bear Grylls: Mission Survive. The Irish model and TV personality won her season of Mission Survive (She beat former England rugby ace Mike Tindall — husband of British royal family member Zara Tindall), but perhaps her biggest achievement to date is taming Spencer. The pair tied the knot on his family's 30,000-acre Scottish estate in 2018. "It has gone down with many as the best wedding they've ever been to," the groom told Hello!. "It was a family affair in the middle of nowhere and it felt very secluded. We were surrounded by the people we love." Matthews' brother, James, and his wife, Pippa Middleton, were among the lucky guests who got to watch the happy couple exchange vows on the banks of a beautiful loch.
He's now a proud dad
Vogue Williams looked stunning in her bespoke Paul Costello wedding dress, but perhaps her best accessory was her baby bump. The bubbly TV star was already pregnant when she married Spencer Matthews, and she has since given birth to their son. On Sept. 5, 2018, both Matthews and Williams took to Instagram to share the happy news with friends and followers. "This morning at 3:55am, we welcomed our son into a quiet London hospital," Matthews wrote in the caption of his super cute photo (via the Evening Express). "He is beautiful and healthy. We feel truly blessed. Couldn't be more proud of Vogue Williams."
The couple released the first pictures of baby Theodore through Hello! magazine, who asked Matthews what it was like to be a father. "Every day has new meaning now," he said. "It's hard to describe. It's almost like a new lease of life where everything matters so much more because he is in it. Now that Theodore is here, it has exceeded all expectation of what I thought it would feel like to be a dad. It's gone from being almost surreal to being nothing short of wonderful." Theodore's middle names are Frederick, after Williams' father, and Michael, in honor of Matthews' late brother: "Michael's name lives on in our family and always will do," the doting dad said.
He wants to have 'tons more kids'
One child apparently isn't enough for Matthews, who has enjoyed becoming a dad so much that he's already planning to expand the family. "We would love tons more kids," he told Hello! magazine. "If they are all as good as Theodore we would like as many as we can have!" His wife appears to be fully on board with the idea. When she spoke to The Sun at the British Takeaway Awards just a few months after giving birth to Theodore, Vogue Williams sang the same tune. "Definitely there's going to be another one; to be honest I'd love to get to four," the model and TV personality revealed. "Pregnancy is quite hard so maybe three ... but we'll see, I'd love four. We just want more of him straight away."
It seems as though baby Theodore is destined to have plenty of siblings, but for the time being he's going to enjoy plenty of play dates with Pippa Middleton's son, Arthur. When Hello! caught up with Matthews again in November 2018, he confirmed that Theodore and Arthur (who share the middle name Michael, after their late uncle) will be growing up together. "It's always lovely for babies to grow up in a similar age gap and it's nice to have cousins be of a similar age," he said.
He and his wife have their own parenting show
In November 2018, Channel 4 commissioned a new series for its E4 brand, promising to grant "exclusive access to the lives of Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams as they make their debut into parenthood." It was originally called Spencer and Vogue: Adult(ish), though the name was changed to Spencer, Vogue and Baby Too so viewers would be under no illusion about the direction of the show, which is nothing like Made in Chelsea. "It's shot more in a docu-series type way, really," Matthews told the Daily Mail. "It's very different to Made In Chelsea. If anything, it's the precise opposite to it. It's more like The Office. There is zero structure to it and it's very free-flowing. It's almost a bit like unscripted comedy. It's funny. And it's great to be back on E4."
When the first episode dropped in January 2019, Matthews was proven right—viewers found it hilarious. Even the biggest critics of Matthews and Williams (and reality TV in general) couldn't help but be sucked in by the show's formula and delivery. "By rights, a show starring ex-Made in Chelsea super-toff Matthews and politically misinformed model Williams should be a shallow, irritating display of affluence and privilege," The Irish Times wrote in its review. "But, ridiculous purchases and fancy cars aside, the E4 series is strangely charming and sweet."
What did he do before TV?
Spencer Matthews was educated at the world-famous Eton College and grew up with multi-millionaire parents, so the fact that he was doing pretty well before his TV career began doesn't come as much of a shock. According to a 2017 profile in The Telegraph, he was raised on his family's 18th-century manor estate but spent much of his youth jetting between his prestigious boarding school and the exclusive Eden Rock Hotel in St. Barts — the latter was owned by his parents. He even attended USC to pursue cinema and television art, but reportedly flew home just nine months into the program.
Matthews briefly worked as a PR Manager in some of London's swankiest clubs, but before long, he scored a highly sought-after job in finance. When he made the cover of the high-class monthly mag Square Mile in 2014, he decided to share some of his wildest stories from the trading floor. "Many city firms have first day initiations for their new apprentices to go through," he wrote in an essay published by the Daily Mail. "There were four guys starting on the same day and we were made to undertake a gruelling lunch challenge. It was four Big Macs, four large chocolate muffins, four cans of lager ... The whole office put money in a jar and bet on who could consume the lot in the fastest time."
Family matters
Just how close is Pippa Middleton to her gorgeous brother-in-law? Close enough for a peck on the cheek, it appears. In January 2019, Spencer Williams and his wife were spotted on St. Barts (the French-speaking Caribbean island where the Matthews own a hotel) with the Duchess of Cambridge's sister and her husband, James Williams. They weren't the only couples on this luxury vacation — Pippa's younger brother (another James) was present with his girlfriend, Alizee Thevenet, as were her mum, Carol, and dad, Michael Middleton. In photos obtained by The Sun, Spencer can be seen kissing Pippa as she prepares to board a private jet headed for England.
The party definitely seemed in high spirits, but considering what's been going on with Spencer's dad, we suspect there may have been some underlying tension on this holiday. In March 2018, news broke that French police were investigating David Matthews over an allegation that he "sexually assaulted a female minor in 1998-1999," reported Hello!. David called the claim "untrue and scandalous," and Spencer and the rest of the family appear to be standing by his said. Images of David embracing Pippa and kissing baby Arthur were also snapped while the whole gang was in the Caribbean.