Tamara Ecclestone reveals real impact of notorious $50 million burglary

Tamara Ecclestone has revealed the real impact of the $50 million home burglary and the truth about the famous birthday party sloth.

As Tamara Ecclestone welcomes me through the doors of her $150 million, 57-room London townhouse, I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere so posh.

But the Formula One heiress has had things far from easy in recent years, after her home was burgled in a raid in 2019.

The thieves made off with $50 million in cash and jewellery.

British model and socialite Tamara Ecclestone. Picture: AFP

“I don’t wear any jewellery if I am out, not even my wedding ring,” Tamara tells me.

“I have security with me all the time. But if I am out with my girls, Fifi and Serena, I don’t really want something to happen or for them to see security intervening.”

Tamara, daughter of F1 mogul Bernie, adds: “I tell myself it’s just material things and really it doesn’t matter. I don’t have anything to prove. I don’t need to wear all the bling.

“I won’t be pushed out of this house. This is my happy place.

“It took me a while to settle back in. I think anyone who has experienced returning home after a burglary can relate but we have moved on as a family.

Sophia Rutland, Serena Rutland, Tamara Ecclestone and guest attend the Moana 2 UK premiere. Picture: Getty Images

As Tamara ushers me through the door, it seems like any other hectic family home and we chat excitedly about Sabrina Carpenter headlining BST Hyde Park.

“Sabrina is a favourite in our house,” Tamara tells me. “Fifi is obsessed. We can’t wait to see her in concert.”

Tamara’s girls are everything to her, and she breaks into a smile every time we speak about them.

The pair inspired her new children’s book Fifi & Friends: The Super Car Race, which is the reason I wangled an invite.

Tamara Ecclestone and her daughter Sophia Ecclestone-Rutland pose on the red carpet. Picture: AFP

“I’ve read so many books to my kids,” Tamara says.

“I always wanted to create a book and I said yes because it’s a project I could do without being away from my girls and I could involve them.

“One of our dogs, Teddy, features in the book too, as well as one of the tame squirrels from our garden.

“I wanted the F1 connection too because only ten per cent of women work in that industry.

“I wanted girls everywhere to see that a career in a man’s world is possible. I tell my girls they can do whatever they want, anything is possible.

“This book is dedicated to them and it spreads a message to be kind. They love it.”

The exterior of Jay Rutland's home in South Kensington, London, UK. Picture: Shutterstock

So what is life like for a woman worth almost $560 million, I ask, wondering if she does her weekly big shop at Aldi like me.

As quick as a flash, Tamara replies: “I’d shop at Aldi but tell me where there is one in central London? I’ve never seen one.”

It’s a fair point. So what about cleaning?

“I don’t scrub toilets,” Tamara says with a cheeky smile.

“But, honestly, my life is just as normal as anybody else’s. I was up all last night because one of the girls was having a nightmare.”

Tamara’s decision to be a hands-on mum has raised eyebrows at the school gates.

“One of the mums said to me the other day, ‘I just don’t understand why you feel the need to accompany them everywhere?’” Tamara tells me.

“But I want to. One of the highlights of my day is taking Fifi to and from school.”

Criticism is something Tamara has become accustomed to over the years and her decision to share her life on Instagram has made her a target.

“I would never delete the comments or turn them off because I’m not ashamed of what I post,” she says.

Tamara could, I venture, post a picture of her giving a $2 million cheque to charity and still get stick.

With a laugh, she agrees, and adds: “They’d say that’s a drop in the ocean or that’s not enough.

A general view of the security gates at Palace Green, the location of Tamara Ecclestone's home in Kensington. Picture: Leon Neal/Getty Images

‘Drop in the ocean’

“I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t.”

The most recent kick-off was this summer when, for Fifi’s birthday,

Tamara had a sloth at their house for a party.

Looking at the comments, you’d think she had maimed it.

Rolling her eyes, Tamara says: “The sloth had been rescued and is used by the company to teach children about rewilding.

“We had to turn up the heating to bring it inside, you know, all the children were very respectful.

“They learned about animals in captivity, rewilding — everything.

“And then the sloth went home to the place where it lives, which isn’t in the wild either because it was rescued.

“If people have an issue with me doing something educational then I think it says a lot more about them than it does about me.”

Doesn’t it just.

This story was published by The Sun and was reproduced with permission