Slavica Ecclestone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slavica Ecclestone is a former Armani model and is the wife of Formula 1 racing CEO Bernie Ecclestone. She was born as Slavica Radić in 1958 in Rijeka, Croatia (at that time part of Yugoslavia). She is Patron of the British-Croatian Society (BCS) and very popular in her Homecountry for her humanitarianism.

The fourth daughter of a dockworker, Slavica was poor during childhood. She started modelling at the end of 70s by photographing for Zagreb magazine Start and for photographer Ivan Balic Cobra, after which her career was furthered by photographer Cedo Komljenovic. She worked as an international fashion model, modelling for a number of leading clients, including designer Armani.

Good Friend Goran Ivanišević dined at an Italian restaurant near Harrods as guest of the Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone and his Croatian wife, Slavica, and she was flown home to Split Croatia on one of Ecclestone's private jets, just as he had been after winning Wimbledon three years ago.

While working on a Formula One promotional event in 1984, she met Bernie Ecclestone (although she did not realise who he was, and gave him a fake phone number). Bernie pursued Slavica doggedly, undaunted by the 28 year age difference between the two, by the language barrier (she spoke Croatian and Italian, he only spoke English), and by the difference in their heights (at 6 feet 2 inches, 1.88m, Slavica was nearly a foot taller than her suitor, Bernie Ecclestone is tall 5 feet and 2 inches, 1.59 m).

The couple has two daughters, Tamara Ecclestone (born 1986) and Petra (born 1990). Both fluent in Croatian.

A complex system of companies places much of the Ecclestones' wealth in Slavica's name, with much of his Formula 1 related property owned by a Jersey based holding company (named SLEC, for SLavica ECclestone), of which Slavica (and not Bernie) is the major stockholder. Slavica Ecclestone also owns her own promotion company.