The old superstition that the number 13 is bad luck has proved to be true for Holly Valance.
The former Neighbours star is reported to have split from her mogul husband, Nick Candy, just months before the couple would have celebrated the milestone wedding anniversary.
“This has been a very difficult period for both Nick and Holly, and they are keeping things private out of respect for their family,” a friend of the pair told British newspaper The Sun.
“They’ve had to juggle a demanding lifestyle. Between family, public life and Nick’s intense work commitments, it’s been a tough balance.”
The couple share two daughters, Luka, 11, and Nova, 7. “The joint parenting of their two amazing daughters remains their top priority,” the source added.
Of course, figuring out how to carve up Nick’s estimated $2 billion fortune and all the perks that come with it in their divorce is likely occupying some of their time, too.
Holly, 42, has come a long way since her days on Ramsay Street playing Flick Scully.
After leaving Neighbours in 2002, she had a fleeting career as a pop star before heading to Hollywood, where she landed some minor TV and film roles.
In 2009, she met the now 52-year-old billionaire property developer. It was a whirlwind romance, with Holly moving into her new beau’s place within three months of them starting to date.
They tied the knot in 2012 in front of guests including Elton John and Simon Cowell during a lavish $6 million ceremony in Los Angeles. Katy Perry was reportedly paid $2.5 million to sing at the reception.
Their union ended everyday life for Holly as she knew it. “The wealth and the lifestyle were overwhelming initially,” she told the Daily Mail.
“I was used to razzle dazzle and meeting lots of famous people, but I wasn’t used to super-yachts and private jets. It was like: ‘Wow!”’
Having a place to call home was replaced with a multimillion-dollar property portfolio, holidays were spent on their own yacht and B-list celebrity friends were traded in for royals.
But the holidays, long lunches and charity work proved to no longer be enough for Holly and she started weighing in on politics, rapidly rising among the UK’s radical-right.
“Everyone starts off as a leftie and then wakes up at some point after you start making money, working, trying to run a business, trying to buy a home and then realise what crap ideas they all are. And then you go to the right,” Holly told GB News in early 2024.
Holly and Nick began throwing fundraisers for controversial UK politician Nigel Farage in the 2020s, and she is credited with encouraging Mr Farage to again seek election as an MP, admitting she had been “whispering in his ear for a long time”.
She has also raised millions for US President Donald Trump’s last election campaign, visiting his Mar-a-Lago home.
She was briefly rumoured to be considering standing for Reform UK herself in the Essex area, but decided against it due to the young age of her children. However, she hasn’t ruled out a run for office in the future.
Her political leanings have resulted in Holly’s Australian-based sister, Olympia, distancing herself, telling HIT WA’s Allan & Carly, “My sister and I have very, very different political views … It was like, ‘Oh my God!’ when she said all that stuff.”
