When it comes to choosing a partner, many women trust the instinctive warning that tells them something does not feel right. Lara Stone may now understand that intuition more keenly than most.
The Dutch supermodel has said little publicly about her marriage to David Walliams, as allegations involving grooming, sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour have emerged around her former husband, the comedian and bestselling children’s author.
However, I understand that she now deeply regrets failing to follow her instincts when they first met.
Stone was 25 when she encountered Walliams, who was 12 years older, in a hospitality box at Chelsea Football Club in 2009. She later said he had effectively ‘stalked’ her until she agreed to go on a date.
It was not an instant romance. Stone reportedly felt there was something unsettling about him, and she was arguably in a fragile place. Only months earlier, she had entered rehabilitation for alcoholism after her drinking had spiralled.
On paper, however, Walliams appeared to offer everything: enormous wealth, fame, humour and relentless charm. Within a year, despite her early doubts, Stone accepted his proposal after he concealed a £100,000 Tiffany ring inside a cheeseburger.
Friends say Stone, now 42, has come to regret saying yes. At the couple’s lavish wedding at Claridge’s in London the following year, there were already signs that the relationship would become complicated.
Among the high-profile guests was Russell Brand, who is now serving a ten-and-a-half-year sentence after being convicted of rape and three sexual assaults.
Lara Stone and David Walliams at a fashion show in 2011. Walliams was known as a ladies’ man when they met, and friends were relieved that he appeared to have finally settled down
Perhaps his presence at the wedding was an unsettling omen. In the years that followed, Stone would face a series of deeply difficult moments.
Friends claim that after the couple divorced in 2015, two years after the birth of their son Alfred, Stone experienced highly challenging behaviour from Walliams while lawyers negotiated arrangements for their child.
According to sources, Walliams made life ‘difficult’ for Stone and was eager to catch her socialising or behaving erratically, allegedly so that he could later use it in discussions about custody.
Whatever the strain of their divorce, the recently published allegations that Walliams, now 55, harassed teenage girls and invited some of them to his north London home are understood to have been particularly distressing for Stone. I saw her concern after a young woman described her alleged experiences with Walliams on Twitter in 2020.
The woman said Walliams had contacted her on social media when she was 17, invited her to his Britain’s Got Talent dressing room and later asked her and a friend to visit his home, where they stayed overnight. Everyone involved agrees that nothing sexual occurred.
Stone is understood to have read the posts and contacted the woman privately. In messages I have seen, she expressed concern for her wellbeing and said she hoped she was ‘okay’.
The compassion in Stone’s messages made a lasting impression. ‘I really, really appreciated Lara reaching out,’ the woman said. ‘I explained that it had been difficult and that I felt sorry if it had brought back painful memories for her, too.
‘She told me I was brave to speak publicly and hoped I had all the love and support I needed. It was very kind of her.’
Stone was not the only person troubled by Walliams’ reported conduct. Her second husband, celebrity architect David Grievson, was also said to have been concerned and contacted a friend of the young woman on social media.
In a carefully worded message, he praised the woman’s courage and showed concern for her welfare.
That response contrasted sharply with Walliams’ alleged treatment of the young woman. Four years earlier, he had reportedly instructed the celebrity law firm Schillings to threaten her with legal action because he feared she might make her account public.
The law firm’s letter was what brought the young woman to me. When I met her, her hands were shaking and she was visibly distressed. She described how she first came into contact with Walliams after applying for tickets to Britain’s Got Talent auditions in Birmingham in February 2015.
At the recording, she was selected with friends to sit near the front of the audience, only a few feet behind Walliams and fellow judges Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and Amanda Holden.
She and Walliams, then 44, began talking. Within hours, he had located her on Twitter and followed her. He later invited the media student to another London recording, offered her work experience, asked her to watch his Gangsta Granny stage production at Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre and invited her to a further Britain’s Got Talent show. On February 21, 2016, a year later, the woman, then 18, visited Walliams’ Belsize Park property, Supernova Heights, with a friend. He had bought the house from his friend, Oasis musician Noel Gallagher.
Lara Stone in 2020. Katie Hind was told the model now deeply regrets ignoring her instincts when she first met David Walliams
Walliams’ Belsize Park property, Supernova Heights, which he bought from his friend, Oasis star Noel Gallagher
Walliams prepared pasta for the pair before taking them on a sightseeing trip to Buckingham Palace.
He then arranged a spa visit at the luxurious Bulgari hotel in Knightsbridge, where the young woman had her eyebrows and nails treated. He also offered to pay for an £800 massage, though she declined because she felt it was too expensive.
Back at the house, she recalled that Walliams had been ‘touchy-feely’ and said he suggested that he had ‘kissed her friend’.
The two women had been drinking wine and were tipsy when they went to bed. They spent the night at the property, watching the 1980 horror film The Shining on Walliams’ sofa.
During the evening, Walliams also spoke about his divorce from Stone, telling them that ‘divorce is so s***’.
The friendship ended later that year. The young woman subsequently questioned on Twitter why Walliams had invited teenage girls such as herself into his Britain’s Got Talent dressing room and sent them birthday cards despite their 30-year age difference. Walliams strongly denies allegations of inappropriate behaviour, grooming or sexual misconduct.
Stone and Grievson saw that post, prompting them to contact the woman and her friend. Grievson told the friend that Stone had become concerned after reports about Walliams and his alleged behaviour began ‘trending’ on Twitter.
In his message, Grievson also suggested that Stone had faced serious difficulties both during her relationship with Walliams and throughout their divorce.
A source close to the young woman said of Grievson’s message: ‘He clearly took a very dim view of what he and Lara had discovered. It sounded as though he had heard some deeply troubling things about Walliams independently of the social media post. Lara appeared genuinely worried, but David was concerned too. It felt as though they wanted to make certain she was safe.
‘Neither Lara nor David revealed much about what she had experienced with Walliams, but it was clear that she had endured some difficult times.’
When Walliams met Stone, he was known for dating high-profile women including Lisa Snowdon, Geri Halliwell and Patsy Palmer. Friends were pleased that he seemed, at last, to have found a settled relationship.
Stone also surprised journalists with her practical personality. She listed doing the laundry among her favourite pastimes and was known for her understated Dutch humour.
Reflecting on leaving school young to pursue modelling, she once joked: ‘I might have been brilliant at tax law, or I might have become a neurosurgeon. I’ll never know now.’
In 2013, Stone gave birth to Alfred, and for a time the family appeared happy. The couple attended Elton John and David Furnish’s wedding in 2014, but their relationship soon began to unravel. In March 2015, they announced a trial separation.
Sources said Walliams had hoped to avoid divorce and believed they might still repair their marriage.
Six months later, however, he filed for divorce, citing Stone’s ‘unreasonable behaviour’ after she had apparently decided that the relationship could not continue.
The divorce was finalised within six weeks, but the former couple spent another year negotiating the division of assets reportedly worth £19 million.
In November 2015, they appeared before the High Court to conclude the financial settlement. A compromise was reached, although its terms remained confidential.
The agreement also set out arrangements for caring for Alfred, who is now 13.
Stone has spoken openly about how the separation affected their son. ‘Getting divorced is awful,’ she said in 2019. ‘When I first left Alfred with David, he was very clingy… it’s only now that he understands we were once married.’ She added that the custody arrangement was ‘quite complicated’ because it was almost evenly divided.
Lara Stone with her husband David Grievson. They met on Tinder in 2018, became engaged two years later and married privately in 2021
Stone met Grievson on Tinder in 2018, and the couple announced their engagement two years later. They married in a private ceremony in 2021. Stone wrote: ‘I got to marry my love this weekend.’
They welcomed a son, Bob, in 2023. Stone later revealed that he had spent several frightening days in intensive care, adding that she was grateful to have him home and that the family loved him deeply.
Last month, Stone announced that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was receiving treatment. She described the news as ‘a huge shock’.
Her settled family life in Hampstead, where she lives with Grievson, Alfred and Bob, is likely to offer some comfort. Their home is around a mile from the property Walliams listed for £11.95 million in June. The asking price was reduced by more than £1 million last month, although the house has reportedly since been withdrawn from sale.
Stone and Grievson, who runs the property design business Coburn, previously invited Tatler to see some of the renovations at their home.
‘Our bedroom is such a peaceful space,’ she told the magazine. ‘We live on a quiet road, with views across the Heath from the bathroom and my dressing room. It’s incredible to be in London while living somewhere so tranquil that birdsong can wake me.’
It is a cruel irony that recent events have disrupted the peaceful life she worked so hard to build.