Monty Don, 65, and his wife Sarah share three children together, Freya, Adam and Tom. But when their daughter came along, Sarah revealed the “bodged” delivery caused her to slip a disc in her back, leaving her unable to walk properly for a year after Freya’s birth.
In their joint novel The Jewel Garden, Sarah recalled the painful experience, which she described as just a “financial traction” on the hospital’s part.
“I was ill months after our daughter was born despite having had a supposedly film-star birth at an enormously expensive private London hospital,” she wrote.
“However as soon as my five-day package was up, I was discharged.”
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Despite doing most of the designing, sampling and publicity behind the intricate pieces, she admitted how clients only listened to her husband.
The company, aptly named after the horticulturalist, was sold in 30 countries, with 60 outlets in America alone with customers including Princess Diana, Boy George and king of pop Michael Jackson who all wore their ionic designs, which are also on display at the V&A Museum in London.
The business was given approval by Vogue, while Harrods, Harvey Nichols and Liberty who all stocked their creations, but it didn’t stop Sarah feeling “humiliated” as she, the trained jeweller, suffered alongside super-salesman Monty.
“I would spend months working on a creation, drawing, refining, going backward and forwards to the factory, checking samples, sorting out publicly,” she wrote.
