Divorce is no longer a surprise in the world of the rich and famous. In fact, there’s a quasi-unwritten acceptance that it completes the complex image of society and society, especially if it comes with worthy divorce settlement fees. The case of Orianne Cevey is slightly different. Indeed, it’s relatively rare to see a celebrity couple divorce and pay huge settlement fees before getting together.
Orianne’s marriage to the famous English musician and actor Phil Collins is well documented. Besides her marriage, the celebrity wife is an established Swiss jewelry designer and also owns her own charity, Little Dreams Foundation. More can be seen on her husband’s TV documentary, Phil Collins: A Life Less Ordinary.
Orianne Cevey Bio (Age)
The entrepreneur was born in Nyon, Switzerland. She was born to a Swiss father and a Thai mother. Growing up, Orianne was interested in sports and fitness. As a result, she was active in games like golf and tennis and took part in skiing adventures and other physical activities with her friends. Cevey also took self-defense classes and later earned a black belt in mixed martial arts.
Orianne Cevey always loved the allure of the world of jewelry and wanted to go in that direction, however, her father wanted her to pursue a degree in business management. Subject to her father’s wishes, she went on to obtain a degree in international management from the University of Switzerland.
After college, she was hired by a Swiss capital firm where she worked as a marketing and communications manager. She eventually left to found her own event management company, O-Com SA, in 1994. That same year she was also working as a translator, which led her to meet veteran singer Phil Collins. He was on tour in Switzerland and needed a translator for his press meetings and promotional events.
Orianne clicked with the musician and they started seeing each other, although neither of them took it very seriously at the time. They finally decided to take it a step further by getting engaged in 1997. Two years later, they tied the knot. Their marriage caused a real craze in the media for several reasons. Chief among these reasons was that Orianne was relatively unknown, was 21 years younger than her musician husband, and this was Phil’s third marriage.
The couple appeared to be growing strongly together. In 2000, Orianne Cevey and Phil started a charity known as the Little Dreams Foundation. It aimed to improve the lives of disadvantaged and disabled children. Two years later, Phil Collins was no longer touring the world, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family. The family at the time settled in a luxurious and welcoming property located around Lake Geneva.
The problems within their marriage first surfaced in 2006, when it was revealed that the couple had filed for divorce on the grounds of personal differences. Divorce proceedings were closed in 2008 and Orianne Cevey received $25 million in divorce settlement costs, the largest in the UK at the time.
Before the divorce was final, Cevey had already started seeing Charles Fouad Mejjati, an investment banker. They got married once the divorce was over. Orianne Cevey and her new family moved to Miami, Florida, but the marriage didn’t last, as they announced their separation in 2015.
A year before her divorce from Charles Mejjati, she had suffered a neck wound that required surgery to replace it with a prosthesis. The operation left her paralyzed and she sued the hospital only to find she had Brown-Sequard Syndrome which was the cause of the paralysis. Orianne had to endure months of rehabilitation before she could walk again with the help of a cane.
Orianne and Phil announced that they were back together in January 2016 and were living together as a family despite not having remarried. Phil Collins admitted parting ways with her was a mistake and he was happy to have her back. Cevey echoed his sentiments. The couple also announced that they will continue to work together on the Little Dreams Foundation.
Besides her event management outfit, Orianne is fulfilling her dream of becoming a jewelry designer. She launched her own jewelry line OC Concept in 2014. Orianne’s jewelry is designed in-house and distributed through her website, as well as physical stores located in Saint-Tropez, Courchevel, and New York. The outfit makes jewelry for men, women and children.
Orianne Cevey’s Kids
The entrepreneur’s first marriage to Phil Collinswas a serious talking point for the media and the general public. This attention only increased with the arrival of their children. Orianne gave birth to her first child with the musician in April 2001. They named him Nicholas Grev Austin. Their second was also a boy and arrived on December 1, 2004. His name was Matthew Thomas Clemente.
Orianne also had a third child, but this is from her second marriage to Charles Fouad Mejjati. In March 2011, Cevey welcomed their first child, a son, named Andrea Ryan Kylian.
Facts About Phil Collins’ Ex-Wife
1. The Geneva property that Orianne and Phil retired to in 2002 once belonged to Grand Prix legend Sir Jackie Stewart.
2 During the proceedings concerning her split with Charles Fouad, Orianne Cevey had accused the investment bank of making her sign a post-nuptial agreement while she was deeply dozed on painkillers, following the consequences of her spine surgery.
3. Orianne’s decision to reconnect with her love for Phil Collins was greatly aided by the fact that he cared for her during and after her surgery, restoring her to impeccable health.
4. After returning to Phil, the family remained in Florida, where Orianne had lived with her ex-husband, Charles Fouad.