Just three months after her shocking split from American pop-rocker Joe Jonas, Sophie Turner has found a new love interest who may be seen as more suitable, given that she is known to be attached to her English roots.
According to reports, Turner’s new boyfriend is a rich, tall and handsome British aristocrat, who has an appropriately quirky aristocratic name: Peregrine Pearson. Known by friends as “Perry,” the 29-year-old Pearson has been dubbed “Britain’s most eligible bachelor,” the Daily Mail said. He’s the eldest son and heir of Michael Pearson, the 4th Viscount Cowdray. The family runs a media empire and has a net worth of US$270mil (RM1.26bil).
Turner’s romance with Pearson was confirmed by photos published on Dec 8 that show the two “making out” while on a stroll in London, TMZ said. The Daily Mail called their kissing “passionate,” and shared photos of the two walking, hand-in-hand, laughing and smiling.
The Game Of Thrones star and Pearson may have been dating since at least since October, with TMZ saying they were photographed kissing in Paris, though it wasn’t clear at the time that the kiss was romantic. The Paris photographs also came a little over a month after Jonas shocked the celebrity world by filing for divorce.
Jonas and Turner had been married for four years. Turner revealed in court filings that the breakdown of their marriage was sudden. She believed they were looking forward to settling down in her native UK where they were purchasing a country estate near Oxford. She said they planned to make the estate their “forever home” and raise their two daughters, three and one, there. Turner grew up north of Oxford, in a seemingly happy middle-class home in the Midlands region of Britain; she is said to be close to her family.
Jonas’ divorce filing in Miami briefly set off an acrimonious, transatlantic custody battle. People in his orbit apparently leaked the idea that Turner was a hard-partying 27-year-old and an absentee mother who had left him to care for their young daughters while he and his brothers were on tour in the United States.
Turner actually was in Britain, working on a TV series. Many online expressed outrage at this “sexist” effort to mum-shame Turner, saying this spin was clearly designed to give the musician an early PR advantage in the couple’s expected custody battle.
Turner hit back, filing a federal lawsuit, stating that she was the girls’ primary caregiver and alleging that her estranged American husband was “wrongfully” keeping their two young daughters in the United States.
By early October, temperatures had cooled, with the spouses reaching a temporary agreement to share equal time with the girls through the end of the year. Turner notably would be allowed to have the girls with her in England for the holidays.
A short time later, Turner and Pearson were spotted in Paris. At the time, Jonas supposedly complained that it was “too soon” for his estranged wife to be seen “passionately kissing” another man in public, the Daily Mail reported. Insiders told the Daily Mail that Jonas is “not a fan of” Turner “galivanting” in public, with a source also saying that he, too, would like to find love again but that he was focused on prioritising his children and work amid the divorce.
Whatever is going on with Jonas, Turner has clearly moved on. Her new boyfriend’s family also owns a historic country estate in West Sussex, which has been been transformed into an exclusive destination resort where people play a lot of polo and golf, according to Tatler.
As the eldest son and heir, Pearson is involved in running the family estate, Tatler said. Prior to dating Turner, he was involved in a three-year relationship with Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Denmark, the goddaughter of King Charles III. – MediaNews Group/Tribune News Service
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