Introducing the filthy rich parents of the Made in Chelsea cast

Every time I sit and watch Made In Chelsea, I can’t help but think to myself – how are these people just spending every day in coffee shops, rooftop bars and going out for food? Do they not have jobs to go to? How are they so rich? What have their parents done to give them these lifestyles? But hold on, who are the parents of The Made In Chelsea cast?

If I had a pound for every time Louise Thompson referred to her mummy, or for each time someone told me Liv is the heir to Bentley Motors, I’d probably be able to afford an apartment in Chelsea too. Here are the parents of Made in Chelsea, and how they made their millions.

Thierry and Corrine D’Ascanio

Parents of: Maeva D’Ascanio

Both of Maeva’s parents have appeared on the show, including them sitting down for dinner with Maeva and James and speaking ahead of their engagement about wedding plans. Speaking to Reality Titbit, Maeva said that her father is a businessman in the publishing field. Her parents are together, and Maeva’s mum, Corinne D’Ascanio, seems to split her time between Paris and the Alps.

On Instagram, both of Maeva’s parents just post loads of pictures of her. Previously, Maeva’s father Thierry has spoken of his love for Maeva’s ex, Miles, and yes – they both still follow one another on Instagram. Cute.

Rachel Blackwell

Parent of: Emily Blackwell 

Emily’s mum is called Rachel and she appears to be married to a man called Mark, who is Emily’s stepdad. Rachel has a very wholesome Instagram, where she shares loads about Emily and her brother, and also has a highlight just for bottomless brunches she’s attended. Iconic.

Marc and Jo Francis-Baum

Parents of: Issy Francis-Baum

Not much is known about Issy’s mum, but her dad is a millionaire businessman. He founded Mare Street Market in Hackney with chef Gizzi Erskine, and has been involved with Camden Hells and Camden Town Brewery since it started, alongside the founder Jasper Cuppaidge.

Mare Street is part of Marc’s larger company Barworks- an independent bar, pub and restaurant group with food and drink locations all over London, including Gas Station in King’s Cross and The Starman in Mayfair. Around 2011, Marc and his business partners from Barworks started looking to make their own beer, which is where the Camden Town Brewery started.

If you want an idea of how rich the Francis-Baum family truly is – the family home is a £10m pad in east London, widely known as the nicest house in the area.

Christel Holst-Sande Cowdrey

Parent of: Julius Cowdrey

Julius’ mum has appeared a couple of time on Made in Chelsea, joining him in a fancy bars in London. Christel is an award-winning author, writer, voiceover professional, interior designer, mediator and coach. Yes, all of those things!! According to her LinkedIn, she went to Regent’s University in London and now has a celebrity agent – probably to help her juggle all the things she has going on.

Stephanie and Dieter Hermann

Parents of: Sophie Hermann 

If you’re wondering where Sophie gets all her effortless poshness from, it’s definitely her rich father. Dieter Hermann is a successful business consultant and Sophie’s step mum is German actress Uschi Glas. It’s not known when Sophie’s parents split up, but her father reportedly married Uschi Glas in 2005.

Jane Felstead

Parent of: Binky Felstead

Binky’s mum Jane has appeared on Made In Chelsea a few times, and has become a bit of a fan favourite. She’s so loved, she has over 80k followers on Instagram. Jane Felstead has opened up publicly about living with multiple sclerosis and has her own column in the DailyMail called “Ask Mrs Felstead”. 

Karen Thompson

Parent of: Sam and Louise Thompson

Sam and Louise Thompson’s mum, Karen, is a property developer and interior designer. Karen looks a LOT like Louise, and just like her daughter, spends a lot of time out for food and travelling the world. On one of Karen’s Instagram posts, Louise commented “are you in France?” like it’s normal for your mum to just to pop to France without you knowing.

Karen and Alan McDermott

Parents of: Zara McDermott

Both of Zara McDermott’s parents live in Essex, where she is from. Zara’s dad works as a musician, and regularly posts about his music on Facebook. Zara’s parents briefly made a cameo on the show when they went for dinner with Zara, to meet Sam Thompson.

Denise Bowditch

Parent of: Verity Bowditch

In Made In Chelsea, Verity speaks openly about how close she is with her mum, Denise. Just like her daughter does now, Denise teaches virtual pilates classes.

Denise Bowditch has popped up on Made in Chelsea a couple of times, and even crashed one of her daughter’s dates. She obviously loves the show, because Denise’s Instagram account is flooded with pictures of her and the cast.

Kevin and Kate Bentley

Parents of: Olivia Bentley

Olivia’s parents made a brief appearance on the show back in series 15 to discuss the make or break in Liv and Digby’s relationship – they were pretty brutal.

The tabloids have come after Liv in the past, claiming she lied about being related to the founder of Bentley Motors. However she has confirmed she is the great-great-granddaughter of the founder, and then said she actually wasn’t. So who knows? Maybe money runs in the family – Bentley Motors sold for £430million. According to LinkedIn, Kevin Bentley is the Managing Director at Bentley Group and the family estate reportedly sold earlier in 2021 for £50million.

Fiona Lygo and Clive Watson

Parents of: Lucy and Tiff Watson

Clive Watson, dad to Lucy Watson and Tiff Watson, is the reason the family are so rich. The Watson money (about £90million of it) comes mainly from their father selling his pubs to Greene King. In the late 1990s he co-founded Tup Inns before making Capital Pub Company in 2001, and became CEO in 2008. He sold Capital to Greene King for £70million in 2011, and in 2012 set up City Pub Company with David Brice and John Roberts.

Carrie Wicks

Parent of: Tristan Phipps

Not much is known about Tristan’s mum Carrie, other than that it looks like she lives at home with the family dog. She has an Instagram account, but only has one picture – of the dog.

She must be pretty close with Tristan though because, in a very sponsored Instagram post that she was clearly roped into, he said: “Let’s spread the love as far and wide as possible this year! I wanted to show my Mumsy just how special she is and how much I appreciate her, and everything she does for me. She’s such a rock in my life , and what better way to show than to gift her the most precious rock there is.” Yes, it was an ad for a jewellery company.

Nicola Toffolo and Gary Bennett

Parents of: Georgia “Toff” Toffolo

Toff has taken to Instagram before to say how close she is with her mum Nicola. Despite the name, Toff isn’t actually from a posh background, as her father Gary sells scrap metal for a living.

Nicholas Laing and Penny Baines

Parents of: Jamie Laing

Jamie’s great-grandfather was the founder of the McVities biscuit brand, so the money obviously runs in the family. Jamie also has two siblings, Alexander Laing and Emily Laing.

Patrique Habboo and Sarah Wigley

Parents of: Sophie “Habbs” Habboo

Sophie’s dad, Patrique, is a company director of two London based businesses. Her mum Sarah is an ambassador for Protocol Health and Wellbeing – a nutrition, skincare and cosmetics brand that offer luxury products to “keep you looking great from the inside out”. She is also director of a property management company.

Both of her parents have Instagram, and Sarah Wigley is another of the Made in Chelsea parents who has appeared on the show before.

Georgina and Nigel Mackintosh

Parents of: Millie Mackintosh

Millie’s great-great-grandfather was the self-proclaimed Toffee King – a Victorian entrepreneur who created Mackintosh’s, one of Britain’s best-loved companies. Her great-grandfather and his brother then invented Quality Street chocolate.

Money has been in the family for a long time. Nigel and Georgina live in a £1.4million house in Bath and Millie describes her mum as “too glam for words”.

John and Sarah Locke

Parents of: Ollie Locke

Ollie’s social media is full of posts about his family, in particular his sister and his mum, Sarah. Sarah is a former BBC Radio Solent DJ.

Related stories recommended by this writer:

• Meet the equally rich and posh siblings of the Made in Chelsea cast

• Made in Chelsea heirs: All the cast members sitting on huge family fortunes

• These are the current Made in Chelsea cast members who are millionaires