‘We’ve flown around the world to try to escape coronavirus’: ‘Illness-phobic’ billionaire Petra Ecclestone defends travelling to five countries in lockdown and asserts she hasn’t broken rules and claims ‘others would if they could’
They’ve travelled from London to Croatia to Switzerland, Monaco and The Maldives – then back to Monaco since lockdown began in March.
And while they haven’t broken any regulations, billionaire heiress Petra Ecclestone, 32, and her fiancé Sam Palmer, 37, admitted they have travelled in order to try to escape coronavirus.
Talking to the Times’ T2, Petra said: ‘We’re currently in Monaco. For now. Not sure where we’ll be next week . . . We’re very Covid-conscious. We’ve flown completely around the world to try and miss it. What I think we’ve realised now is you can’t run from coronavirus.’
‘We’ve flown around the world to try to escape coronavirus’: ‘Illness-phobic’ billionaire Petra Ecclestone has defended travelling to five countries in lockdown and asserted she hasn’t broken rules and claims ‘others would if they could’
The couple returned to London from their home in LA just as the pandemic hit last year and they hardly left the house, before flying to Croatia for one month in the summer.
But because her sister Tamara, 36, and her father Bernie, 90, were both in Switzerland with their families, they decided to go there so their children could partake in outdoor activities.
As the virus grew, they travelled to Monaco after two months because ‘it has done very well for coronavirus,’ Sam notes.
Despite schools being open there, the couple have been home-schooling their children but their nanny-housekeeper contracted coronavirus and so they’ve been doing everything themselves.
Petra regards herself as being illness-phobic due to a near-death experience with meningitis when she was aged 14.
She notes; ‘I’m a huge hypochondriac. I hate germs and anything that I’m not in 100 per cent control over gives me anxiety. So this whole virus . . . it scares me and it isn’t great for my anxiety. ‘
Petra’s father Bernie is worth $3.2billion and Petra famously sold her LA home for £97 million in 2019 – Essex born Sam who was new to this lifestyle noticed ways to cut costs and launched a staffing agency to the super-rich as a result.
While the couple, who have been together since 2017, know they get to live a privileged lifestyle, they are unapologetic for the benefits this has given them, particularly in lockdown.
Acknowledging how difficult single mothers would be finding this situation, homeschooling in an apartment, Sam said, ‘we can’t really complain.’
He added: ‘A lot of people get blinded by the wealth. We are parents with four children. I think people think that we sit around eating lobster and bathing in champagne. It couldn’t be further from the truth and that’s really why we did this [P.S Say Cheese] podcast, to show we are very normal people.’
The couple also touch upon their holiday last month in the Maldives and were asked if they are worried about being judged in these coronavirus times as envious Brits back home remain banned for non-essential travel.
Nothing that, ‘we’re living in a country where you’re able to travel’, Sam asserted that there is always going to be a wealth divide.
He said: ‘Precoronavirus there were people starving in the world. Everyone was still posting pictures of food… It’s like the world has to pretend there isn’t wealth any more. There’s still the same problems systematically. And I think probably a lot of it they’ve turned on to other people.’
And while Petra, who was previously married to bullion dealer James Stunt acknowledges that the fact she gets to travel is ‘unfair’ but said that ‘if others had the opportunity, they’d go on holiday too.’
Her sister Tamara was criticised for living in up in G’Staad but she maintains she is now living there and has no plans to return to London currently.
Find out more about the podcast @pssaycheese on Instagram. To donate to Petra’s Place go to petrasplace.co.uk