From left to right, Libby Price and Adam Parore; Ali Andrews and Raph Wertheimer; Andrew Gourdie and Rebecca Wright. Photo / Herald composite image
Ali Andrews, heiress to a fortune, is dating Chanel heir Raphael Wertheimer, Adam Parore and Libby Price are expecting twins, and former Newshub broadcasters Rebecca Wright and Andrew Gourdie are dating.
She’s the heir to a fortune and now Ali Andrews, the daughter to Kiwi rich list parents, has found love. Like appears to attract like – Andrews’ boyfriend Raphael Wertheimer is the son of New York-based multi-billionaire Alain Wertheimer, co-owner of Chanel.
Andrews’ mother and stepfather, Anya and Peter Hutson, have a reported wealth of more than half a billion dollars, thanks in part to selling their share of their Australian Bay Audio business.
Although remaining tight-lipped to Society Insider’s enquiries, Andrews has been posting loved-up photos with her new beau on her social media accounts, without tagging or naming him.
But with some investigating, Society Insider has deduced Andrews’ mystery man is none other than Wertheimer, himself heir to a fortune.
Wertheimer’s father Alain co-owns Chanel with his younger brother Gerard. The pair are grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who founded the luxury fashion brand with Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in the 1920s.
The brothers took over as co-owners of Chanel after their father, Jacques Wertheimer, died in 1974. Alain is a highly respected marketer – he is reportedly credited with bringing the late, great Karl Lagerfeld on board to Chanel in the ‘80s.
Alain and Gerard are reportedly the third-richest family in France, behind Bernard Arnault (CEO of LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods company), and Francoise Bettencourt Meyers (heiress to the L’Oreal fortune and the world’s richest woman). The Wertheimers are the 40th richest family in the world, according to Forbes magazine, which estimated Alain’s net worth at US$36.8 billion.
Both Andrews’ and Wertheimer’s families are said to prefer to stay out of the spotlight and keep their lives private.
Wertheimer has been described as a charming, humble man, despite the trappings of his family’s enormous wealth.
Andrews and Wertheimer enjoyed a romantic jet-set European summer together at the most exclusive locations the continent had to offer, including Lake Garda in Italy and Ibiza in Spain.
Wertheimer also met some of Andrews’ Kiwi friends among the billionaires and their superyachts on France’s Cote d’Azur.
At the end of August, Wertheimer took Andrews and friends to a very special place in Bordeaux, the beautiful Chateau Canon, owned by his father and uncle.
Alain and Gerard also own the equally impressive neighbouring Chateau Rauzan-Segla, and vineyards in Napa Valley, California.
The brothers are also said to be major art collectors, as well as owners of thoroughbred horses that they breed and race. They have two studs, Wertheimer Farm in the United States and Wertheimer et Frere in France. Their horses have won races at the French Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Turf in the US.
In October, Wertheimer and Andrews stayed at Amanzoe, a luxury resort and hotel in Greece’s Peloponnese region. With its position overlooking some stunning beaches, marble-clad villas and nods to the Acropolis in its design, it has become known as the perfect location for marriage proposals.
Since their Greek getaway, the couple have been back in Wertheimer’s home turf of New York, and this month, they are understood to have been in London.
Andrews is no stranger to luxurious European holidays – she spent her 30th birthday at one of the most luxurious villas on the cliffs of St Tropez.
Since then, she has mainly been based in London, carving out her own international career as managing director of her digital and marketing agency, Holst Andrews Social. She co-founded the business with friend Carolina Holst several years ago.
Wertheimer works outside the family business too, co-founding Remaster, a business that helps content creators and small brands to manage and protect their intellectual property (IP).
With trans-Atlantic business interests, the new couple are said to have been burning up the private jet miles to work around their schedules and commitments.
Perhaps this summer Andrews will show Wertheimer some of her family’s properties in New Zealand. As well as Andrews’ luxurious home in Herne Bay and her family’s $16 million mansion in Mission Bay, the Hutsons are said to own a two-hectare lifestyle block on Waiheke, 62ha near Matakana, and a lifestyle block in Te Arai.
Former New Zealand cricket star Adam Parore, 53, and his partner, property manager Libby Price, 35, are expecting twins next month.
“I’m equally apprehensive at the challenge and excited at the arrival,” Parore tells Society Insider.
Parore has two children from his seven-year relationship with interior designer Sally Ridge, a son Astin, 21, and a daughter Mclean, 18.
Since his very public split with Ridge, Parore was married from 2014 to 2016 to Miller Rose, then was in a relationship with interior designer Danielle Francis.
He has been dating Price for three years.
“We met through friends of friends, and then we kept bumping into each other,” says Price. “He was very persistent and about six months into things we became an item.”
Together, they are a multi-property-owning, multi-millionaire power couple. They live in a contemporary, five-bedroom home in Remuera with vistas overlooking Newmarket Park.
Despite how glamorous their life may seem, the pair insist that their most cherished times are with each other, family and friends.
Price owns Otago Flats, the Dunedin-based property service started by her mum Suzi in 2008. Several years ago, Price took over ownership and says the company now manages more than 150 properties.
On the side, Price also does client renovations – and with a business partner, she is about to start building six units in Dunedin, which her business will then manage.
Earlier this month Parore and Price had a baby shower for the twins at their home, with caterers and a full bar service for more than 50 family and friends.
“It was not your usual baby shower, we had quite the party, and everyone had a great time,” Parore tells Society Insider.
“Of course, I couldn’t partake but it was great to watch everyone get merry and celebrate our lives changing next month,” says Price.
The couple will spend New Year at their compound in the Far North, Ōpononi.
Parore has strong ties to his northern Māori heritage and is heavily involved with his Northland iwi Te Roroa, of which he is chair of the Commercial Entities.
“I have loved being part of what Te Roroa has accomplished to date,” Parore tells Society Insider.
Price has fallen in love with the Far North too. For the last three summer holidays, the couple have hosted 15-20 friends on the beautiful Koutu Point which looks out on the Hokianga Harbour.
There they have a compound of two baches, with a third to come designed by architect Chris Tate, who is renowned for his unusual designs.
The compound’s grounds include a teepee for the kids, a spa, pool and tennis court, as well as a helipad to house Parore’s Bell LongRanger helicopter, which he says is the perfect size for his growing family.
Their newborns are due four days after Parore’s January 23 birthday, but he and Price are prepared for things to go ahead of schedule. If the twins come early, Parore will fly the precious cargo back to Auckland.
“Flying is what Adam and my father Ross bonded over first,” Price says. “Adam also has his airplane licence, as does my dad.”
Price says she has “a battalion of mothers” ready to come to their aid and support them in the first months with their newborn twins.
Once the twins are settled, Price and Parore intend to build a forever home in Remuera.
The career-driven pair will have a full-time nanny join them, someone Parore says is the best hire they have made this year.
While he was New Zealand’s best wicketkeeper from 1990 to 2002, the former Saint Kentigern’s pupil also studied law and finance at Auckland University, achieving an LLB BCom.
Parore began his commercial career at Goldman Sachs JBWere and has now accumulated 20 years of private company experience in New Zealand across multiple sectors.
He established Hurlingham Partners in 2016 with fellow director Andrew Christie.
The private equity mergers and acquisitions firm’s investments include one of Australasia’s largest accounting business franchises, SBA (Small Business Accounting), which has more than 80 branches servicing over 25,000 SMEs.
Complementary to this is Parore’s Accounting & Tax Group which operates offices in Richmond, Masterton, Warkworth and Katikati.
Hurlingham also has a tourism investment company, Index Group, which operates one of New Zealand’s largest fleets. Index has more than 3500 rental cars across 50 rental depots nationwide that are either corporate-owned or franchised.
This summer, Parore will return to cricket, playing in the T20 Black Clash at Hagley Oval in Christchurch, his third time since first taking part in 2021.
“I have made a lot of cross-code friends playing in the tournament,” he says. “I’ve met some great rugby mates from it.”
Earlier this month, Price joined other wives and partners at a dinner in Wellington, celebrating 1999, the year the Black Caps won their touring series in England.
Attending the dinner with Parore were most members of the team and management, including fellow greats Chris Cairns and Dion Nash.
A lunch followed the next day at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, while England played the Black Caps.
Property is a common interest for Parore and Price. As well as their Remuera home and Hokianga compound, the couple has completed two modern villas as investment properties in Bali’s trendy beach town Canggu. The couple didn’t visit together over the Kiwi winter, with Price preferring to stay close to home while pregnant. But Parore did, and says his children Astin and Mclean think the Bali investment is one of the best things he has done.
As well as Bali, Price and Parore also have a stunning 17th-century five-bedroom chateau in Bordeaux, France. Formerly owned by Australian designer Heidi Middleton – previously of Sass and Bide – Parore says the place is a dream, with beautiful interiors.
The twins will need their passports quick smart, as Parore likes to avoid as much of the Kiwi winter as he can.
Media circles have been buzzing the last few months, with talk that TV broadcasters Rebecca Wright and Andrew Gourdie are dating.
The pairing is happy news in a tough year for them professionally. Both were casualties of the July closure of Newshub by its owners Warner Bros. Discovery.
Wright lost her Newshub Nation co-host role and Gourdie his Newshub Live at 6pm sports presenter role.
The pair have been spotted together at various events over the last few months.
It was at Newshub, then known as TV3, where Gourdie met former partner Kate Lynch.
In May last year, Lynch told Society Insider that after 12 years of marriage and the birth of two incredible boys, she and Gourdie had concluded they were better as friends.
Wright, 43, originally from Wellington, began her journalism career on 3 News, before reporting for Campbell Live, The Paul Henry Show, Breakfast and 1 News. From 2017, she spent three years in New York as 1 News’ stateside correspondent. Long-term partner, cameraman Cam Wilson, and their baby daughter, Scarlett relocated to the States with her. The family moved back to New Zealand in early 2020, basing themselves in Titirangi.
At the time, Wright told Society Insider that she was excited for her new adventure working for TVNZ 1’s current affairs show Sunday.
Wright later joined Warner Bros. Discovery’s new channel Eden in March 2022, as a newsreader, then Newshub Nation.
It is understood Wright and Wilson split in 2021.
This summer, Wilson is expecting a baby with his partner of more than a year, Tova O’Brien, the former Newshub political editor, now Stuff journalist.
In August, O’Brien told the Herald she and Wilson were pinching themselves and that her suddenly very prominent bump left absolutely no room for doubt that it was really happening.
Christchurch-raised Gourdie is now head of communications and content for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing.
In between getting across some of the country’s best horse-breeding studs, Gourdie has been kept busy with broadcast and MCing gigs including co-hosting the 2024 Simon Mannering Medal celebrations for the NZ Warriors and was part of the broadcast team for international sports broadcaster DAZN at the David Nyika v Tommy Karpency boxing bout.
Wright is available on the MC circuit too and is currently on the books of Essential Talent Agency.
Although Wright was not ready to provide comment on her relationship with Gourdie, she is in the process of finalising her next highly anticipated career move, expected to be announced in the new year.
Orsini’s luxury Italian boat party
Guests wore their nautical best for an Italian night of luxury hosted by Parnell jeweller Orsini and Azimut Yachts last Wednesday. The cocktail party was held on board the $20 million, 30m yacht, the 2023 Azimut Magellano, moored at Viaduct Harbour.
Models displayed hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of jewellery from Marco Bicego, while guests sipped Perrier Jouet Grand Brut Champagne, with canapes by world-class chef Anthony Price.
Hosts for the evening were Orsini’s Sarah Hutchings and Pinnacle Marine’s Freddy Foote. Their guests included the Northern Club’s event manager Cathy Horton; Chrystelle Baran and Nick Ferneyhough of French antique store Baran de Bordeaux; Nicola Webster, founder of the luxury outdoor furniture business Coast New Zealand; Richard Thomson from the International Art Centre; as well as yachting industry fans including Hutchings’ husband Kent, Sarah and Allan Rudkin and Josette Prince and Peter Carlson.
The yacht is currently up for sale, and guests were able to explore and make use of its luxurious facilities, including the stern terrace and its sheltered dining zone with relaxation corner, American bar and an open deck, as well as the four staterooms and the generous owners’ “apartment” on the main deck level.
Hutchings flew pieces in from Italy, especially for the occasion. She wore the Marco Bicego Lunaria diamond necklace worth $29,000 and matching chandelier earrings worth $15,000 to accessorise her Ralph Lauren nautical striped top teamed with white shorts.
Gin Palace at the Races
PR maven Anna Jobsz took her successful Gin Palace event brand to the Auckland Racing Club at Ellerslie last Thursday for the Twilight racing.
The weather didn’t play ball so guests were pleased to be inside for the event. Ellerslie’s The Hunt Room has a view of the finishing line on the newly built track, which has a special drainage system so the horses can run, whatever the weather.
Guests included three former Real Housewives of Auckland – Angela Stone, Julia Sloane, and Anne Batley Burton, who was accompanied by husband Richard Burton. Also in attendance were Sir Bob Jones’ former wife Kham Phomsouvanh, and former Ellerslie CEO Chris Weaver.
Ellerslie ambassador, Caitlin O’Sullivan, was on hand for racing tips and Stone judged the “Best Dressed”.
The creators of the expansive palatial Italian Villa Lone Pine Estate, Russian multimillionaires Artem Zhigarev and Anna Ksenofontova, took out the Best Dressed Couple, Zhigarev in a shiny shorts suit and Ksenofontova in a yellow floral dress paired with a red Valentino bag.
Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.
Break tradition with everything from venison to vegan nut roasts.