Nothe first part of The Crown 6 – four episodes about the love between Diana and Dodi, the paparazzo who managed to catch the kiss and finally the accident and the great worldwide mourning – there is also room for a figure briefly mentioned in the previous season. That is Kelly Fisher. Dodi Al-Fayed’s girlfriend (and betrothed) before the scion lost his mind Diana Spencer. A figure doubly crushed by the events to which some attention is now returning. Who was? She was truly relegated to a second-rate yacht as the series shows, while the two lovebirds stood in the big one three times? (Spoiler: yes, no, maybe)
The Crown 6Kelly Fisher, who was Dodi’s ex-girlfriend
The series traces the love story between Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and the film producer Dodi Al-Fayed (Khalid Abdalla) assuming it was strongly desired by father Mohamed. Mainly for reasons of prestige and positioning in the British high society: how not to take advantage of a divorced princess out for a walk? Second reason: to get rid of Kelly Fisher, the American model (played by Erin Richards) with whom he was engaged the son, and branded as a gold digger.
Born in Kentucky, in 1967, Kelly she was discovered as a teenager by a talent scout in Toronto, where she moved with her family as a child, starting to pose very early. After high school she enrolled in college, but she dropped out after a few months for devote herself completely to her modeling career. The idea came to fruition quite quickly, with fashion shows for Armani, La Perla and Victoria’s Secret, and the covers of Elle And Marie Claire.
Kelly and Dodi Al-Fayed
Kelly and Dodi met in Paris in the summer of 1996, and the passion is overwhelming. To the point that, according to what was reported in the news, in February of the following year they get officially engaged. To then purchase, as seen in The Crown 5, a house in Malibu – with plans to get married and move to California in August 1997.
Erini Richards is model Kelly Fisher in “The Crown 6.” (Netflix)
But it happens that Dodi meets Diana on the French Riviera and, just a few weeks after the alleged wedding, the famous photos of the kiss between the princess and the millionaire appear in the newspapers. Kelly understands that marriage is blurred, along with trust and something as important as pride. Enraged, she sues her ex demanding moral compensation of one million dollars: Dodi had forced her to abandon her career and dedicate herself solely to him.
Some, however, today as then, he is not entirely convinced of the veracity of the love story. In an article published at the time on The Irish Times a spokesperson for the Al-Fayed family denied the alleged marriage, admitting however that the two knew each other. For her part, at the press conference, Kelly showed off a luxurious engagement ring as a gift from her lover.
Kelly Fisher in 2007 (IPA)
To support his daughter he also emerged with an interview with Los Angeles Timesin which he declared that Dodi had asked her permission to marry his daughter in November 1996, when the couple attended Kelly’s sister’s wedding. In the chaos that followed the accident in Paris, all of the model’s statements soon end up forgotten, prompting her to withdraw the lawsuit against the ex and to disappear from the spotlight.
What happened to Kelly?
Kelly made the loss lost track for many years, reappearing in 2007, when he comes interrogated in London in the investigation wanted by Dodi’s father to clarify the death of his beloved son. The next year, they come out the transcripts of some telephone calls in which where the model, very angry, accuses Dodi of having seduced Diana in Saint Tropez while spending the nights with her in a boat moored nearby. Just as we see in a scene from the series (except in the series she arrives in Costa after the fact).
2007 is also the year Kelly meets Russian pilot Mikhail Movshina on a safari holiday. They form a couple immediately, moving in in Aiken, her hometown in South Carolina, when Kelly discovers she is pregnant: it is 2010. They still live there together with the daughter Alexandra.
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