Ali Hussain

TARA PALMER-TOMKINSON, 35, the celebrity It girl, is probably best known for her nonstop partying in the 1990s, although she has been trying to forge a career as a television personality since going into rehab eight years ago.

She grew up in Dummer, Hampshire, on the 1,200-acre estate of her parents, Charles and Patricia Palmer-Tomkinson, who are close friends of Prince Charles.

Palmer-Tomkinson checked into the Meadows rehab clinic in Arizona in 1999 after appearing on ITV’s Frank Skinner show looking dishevelled and sounding incoherent. She was alleged to have had a £400-a-day cocaine habit at the time.

In 2002, her public profile was revitalised when she was a runner-up on I’m a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here. More recently, she won BBC1’s Comic Relief Does Fame Academy contest despite murdering her friend Elton John’s classic ballad I’m Still Standing.

She has also appeared in a number of commercials, notably for Walkers crisps and KFC. She was also briefly the face of Nicorette in 2003, but her contract was allegedly terminated when she failed to kick her 30-a-day cigarette habit.

Her book, The Naughty Girl’s Guide to Life, is out in September.

How much money do you have in your wallet?

I have about £1,500 with me – not in my wallet, but in my bedroom where I can see it. My accountants, Martin Green Ravden, send cash to me by bike because they hate it when I take money out with my credit card. They’re very good – they sort of know what I’m doing before I do. On a normal day, I would have about £200 in my wallet.

Do you have any credit cards?

I don’t have a debit card because my accountants worry too much about the amount of money I would withdraw, but I do have a Royal Bank of Scotland Mastercard. I’ve had only one credit card for the past 10 years, mainly to keep track of my spending.

I got my fingers really burnt once with an Amex black card. I was about 24, and for some reason I stopped taking taxis and just used helicopters whenever I could. I paid for such things using the Amex, but I didn’t realise that you had to pay off the balance every month. I was incurring huge amounts of interest – I had bills of about £47,000 for a couple of months.

It wasn’t my fault, though. I was told I could use the card to buy anything, from a window to an elephant, so I did. I wasn’t in very good shape at that age. I got into a lot of debt and eventually ended up in rehab aged about 27.

My father paid off all my debts because he felt so embarrassed by me. When I eventually came out of rehab, I spent the next two years paying my father back. I remember doing an advertising campaign for M&S that paid £100,000, but I only had £20,000 left after paying off my dad.

All my credit-card bills go straight to my accountants so they can keep tabs and pay things off. I reckon I put about £8,000 to £10,000 on my card every month now. It’s easy to spend that much – a handbag from Chanel can cost £1,700 easily; not that I buy one of those every month.

Are you a saver or a spender?

Spender definitely – I’m Spenderella. I’ll buy almost anything. I love art, especially contemporary art. I recently bought a Federico Herrera, which cost about £10,000. I also bought a baby grand piano about a year or so ago, which I play for a couple of hours every day. It cost just over £10,000. It was a nightmare getting it into the house – we eventually found a 100ft crane to do it. I remember people saying they could see a Steinway in the air.

To run my house also costs a bomb. I have about seven people working for me today – decorators, gardeners and cleaners – and about 15 staff in total. When I was in the Fame Academy house earlier this year, I spent a good £35,000 redecorating and repairing my own home.

How much did you earn last year?

Last year I was earning a high six-figure sum, but in a good year I earn anything between £1.2m and £1.3m. It’s mainly from TV work and endorsements – writing for Closer magazine earned me £80,000 a year, for example. Short adverts could earn me between £4,000 and £5,000 and sometimes £10,000 if they really want me. I also got a £250,000 advance for my book, which comes out in September.

Have you ever been really hard up?

I was skint after rehab. At that stage in my life I couldn’t touch the money from my family because it was with trustees. I had to wait until I was 33 before I got any of that.

Just before rehab, I was living in a house in Holland Park in London. It was £600 a week rent which I managed to pay for myself – I was earning enough but my spending was far beyond my means.

I used to be so lazy with money too. When I rented a video I ended up paying fines of £90 because I’d hold on to them for three months.

When I came out of rehab, I knew at the back of my mind that I wasn’t completely skint, but I think it was very important that I learnt the value of money because I clearly had no respect for it before.

What is the most lucrative work you have ever done? Did you use the fee for something special?

Probably the Walkers campaign. It was supposed to be a one-year deal in 2003 but I ended up doing it for three years, which was fabulous. I was being paid about £300,000 a year and it only involved about three days of work – two for filming and one for the press launch day.

There were four cheques sent each year, so the money came in chunks of about £75,000. When I get a big amount of money, I always mark it by buying something like a piece of art or furniture. I think I converted one of my bathrooms into a Turkish steam room when I got the Walkers money.

Do you own a property?

I have two and am about to buy a third. My London house is in South Kensington and I bought it about three years ago for two point something million. It’s a two-bedroom, two-bathroom penthouse on three floors.

It’s all very open plan. I’d hate to live in a house where there are dark corners where someone could be lurking. The house is kind of half inside and half outside. All the walls come off in the top floor by retracting into themselves so you see the sky – it has a big wow factor. It’s all managed by remote control. The rooms have huge ceilings, too, because I took out most of one floor.

It was an expensive property because of the level of security it has. It’s the top three floors of a larger red-brick building but it’s completely hidden away behind gates. I think the house is probably worth three and a bit million now.

I recently bought a chalet in Klosters in Switzerland. It’s being built and should be ready by the end of the year. My family spend quite a lot of time there. It will have two floors with three bedrooms. It cost £1.5m.

I’m also buying a place in Bali, which hasn’t been built either. It will cost about £1m but I got it at a discount because I’m endorsing Karma resorts, the hotel chain that is building it. I’ve chosen my plot, and I’ve just got the architectural plans so it’s very exciting. Each of the bedrooms has its own swimming pool. I just wanted something on that side of the world.

Do you invest in shares?

I have lots but I don’t have a clue about them. My accountants and Kleinwort Benson, my investment bank, deal with my money but I’m not sure who does what. I think most of my investments are in safe funds though. I can’t say exactly how much I’ve invested but it’s probably a few million.

Do you have Peps and Isas?

I do, but again the accountants deal with them.

Do you have a pension or other retirement plan?

I’ve got no idea, but I don’t worry about it really – I’m told it’s all been mapped out.

Do you believe pensions are a good thing?

I hate the word pension. It just annoys me because my philosophy is to live fast and die young.

What has been your worst investment?

I used to own another property about five years ago. It was a converted sweet shop in Chelsea with two bedrooms, one of which I converted into a wardrobe. It got burgled soon after I moved in and it scared me because I was in at the time. Ever since then, I’ve never wanted to live in a house where it’s just me, door and then pavement. I never really felt safe there and it was a bad buy. It cost me about £300,000.

And your best?

The house I live in now. I have no mortgage on it. I think something like this will always sell – it’s different from any other house in London. I think I’ve spent about £300,000 on things like sound and lighting throughout, which is all controlled remotely. There are also two security guards near the entrance.

What aspect of our taxation system would you change?

I don’t like paying 40%. I’d get rid of that. I’d also get rid of parking and congestion charges – in fact, I’d get rid of Ken Livingstone altogether. I’d put him in a lovely health farm somewhere.

What is your financial priority?

To maintain my lifestyle and my health. I want an easy life so my lifestyle expenditure is huge. It includes a concierge service which keeps my life going smoothly. I also have someone come in to reorganise my wardrobe every two months – that costs £600.

I want things to run well and without any stress – a typical capricorn. I deeply believe in a certain order in the universe. I have a moon map and my dad bought me a telescope for my last birthday.

Do you have a money weakness?

Clothes, handbags and shoes. I have hundreds of them. My favourite handbag is a new limited edition Union Jack Chanel handbag, which cost £16,000. The other designer I’m fond of is Azzedine Alaia, who is good for elegant simple clothes. I always buy a few pieces of the collection when they come out. Six pieces could easily cost about £15,000. The clothes last a lifetime, though.

What is the most extravagant thing you have ever bought?

I spend a lot taking friends on holiday. About five years ago, I rented a villa in Marbella and took eight friends and paid for everything. It cost me about £45,000 for a month’s holiday.

Also, about seven years ago, I managed to buy a coat from Dolce & Gabbana which retailed at £22,000, but they gave it to me for £4,000 because they liked me. I always get a discount with them, but that was a particularly good one. There were only three made – Madonna got one, Whitney Houston another. I was shocked I managed to get the third. It’s a jewel-encrusted, handmade coat which also kind of looks like a dress. I haven’t worn it for about five years.

Do you play the lottery?

I don’t, although I picked out the numbers on the show about seven years ago. That paid very well – £12,000 for half an hour or so. I remember feeling ill at the time and I wanted to call in sick, but my agent dragged me out of bed.

I played it once in my life, but I left the ticket in a handbag so I have no idea if I won or not.

What is the most important lesson you have learnt about money?

Losing my money was perhaps the best thing that happened to me. It taught me to respect it. Just as Santa Claus isn’t real, I always thought money grew on trees – it doesn’t.