SHE’S the self-made multi-millionaire who went from being “as poor as a church mouse” to the most expensive divorce lawyer in London.
Ayesha Vardag, known as the ‘Diva of Divorce’, charges clients – many of whom are mega wealthy – a whopping £1,200 per hour (plus VAT) for her services.
The 55-year-old, who splits her time between London and Florence, represents celebrities, footballers and even royalty in cases that often run into the hundreds of millions of pounds.
Ayesha tells us family law, which deals with "love, sex, children, homes and our future" is the most compelling field – but it’s also high stakes.
She says: “I work at the coal face of people’s lives, which can make the difference between them having a depressing, miserable and poor existence or having a positive future that everyone deserves.”
Ayesha’s own journey to the top was far from smooth. Her mum Barbara left her dad, who was based in Pakistan, when she was five months pregnant, and moved to Northumberland to stay with family.
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Before Ayesha turned two, her mum and grandmother – who was in an unhappy marriage – decided to flee and “start life afresh” while her grandfather was away at sea.
She said: “My mother decided it wasn’t a place that she wanted to bring up a child and told my grandmother, ‘If you want to get out, this is the time.’
“There was me, the dog, and anything they could stuff into a Ford car. They left together and moved to Oxford, went ex-directory and my grandfather never found them again.”
From then Ayesha had a happy and loving childhood, but admits they struggled money-wise and were “as poor as church mice”.
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