LIKE many celebrities, Mary Portas’ love life has always been in the spotlight.
Here we take a look inside her second marriage to Melanie Rickey.
Melanie Rickey is a British fashion writer and consultant.
She has had a notable career in the fashion industry and has worked for various publications, including Grazia and The Guardian.
She gained a degree in fashion promotion and journalism from the University of Arts London in 1996.
As of September 2022, she works as the digital editor for Sphere Magazine.
Mary started dating Melanie in 2003 after they met at a dinner at the Royal College of Art.
Melanie then moved in with Mary and her two children in 2005, before the pair entered into a civil partnership in May 2010.
The couple converted their civil partnership to a full marriage in 2014.
Mary surprised Melanie by taking her to Westminster City Hall in Victoria Street, Victoria, to convert their partnership to marriage at 12.01am today (December 10) – one minute after civil partnership conversions to gay marriages became legal in the UK.
Mary hasn’t shied away from speaking about discovering her true sexuality later in life having been previously married to Graham Portas for 14 years.
In 2018, she opened up about entering into a relationship with a woman for the first time.
Mary told the Guardian: “In one way, it was just about Melanie. But there was a sexual attraction. I do love women.
“What surprised me afterwards was that so many women are fluid in this way. I would meet them and they would say: “I was married, now I’m with a woman.”’
Melanie gave birth to their son Horatio in 2012.
Their son was conceived via IVF, with Mary’s brother as the sperm donor.
“Lawrence was the first one there [with us] and he picked him up and it was just very emotional,” Mary told The Times of her son’s birth.
“I said to him ‘Thank you’, and he said ‘It’s my pleasure’, and we just held each other. And now, when I look at Horatio, he is a complete mix of [Ms Rickey] and me.”
“Of course, now I know that it could only ever have been Lawrence who was Horatio’s father,” she said.
In May 2019, it was announced that the two had split.
They had sold their £5million home in North West London and moved into separate houses nearby.
In a statement explaining their split, the exes insisted there was no third-party involvement.
It said: “After 17 years together we have decided to separate. There is no one else involved.
“We have spent the last year consciously managing our separation in as good-heartedly, open, and mature a way as possible to ensure a smooth, amicable evolution for us.
“We remain a family, and are committed co-parents to three wonderful humans (plus Walter the dog!) who are our priority. We remain good friends, and will share much together going forward.”
A friend of the couple added to the Sun: “In the end they decided they were better off as wonderful friends.”
