Geri Haliwell and Christian Horner’s coupling has been a whirlwind of drama from day one. The pair were first revealed to be dating shortly after Horner was known to have welcomed a child with another woman, which didn’t make for the smoothest public introduction for the fledgling lovebirds.
But nevertheless, they persisted, and married within a year of dating. Continuing at breakneck speed, the singer and former athlete welcomed their first child together a year and a half after their wedding.
The pair descended into a wedded bliss, and for a while appeared to be the picture perfect happy couple. But more recently, Halliwell, 51, and Horner, 50, have been swerving obstacle after obstacle as accusations of misconduct hit the F1 boss. Just this week, Horner was cleared of all wrongdoing, only for Whatsapps, allegedly sent by Horner to a former female colleague, to be leaked yesterday evening.
In light of this latest roadblock, we dive into the pair’s relationship timeline.
A drive-by meeting while Horner was still married to his ex
The pair first met at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2009, when Halliwell was brought down into the pit lane by former Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone. “I remember [McLaren boss] Ron Dennis was standing next to me and Eddie Jordan was there as well,” Horner has recalled of when he first met Halliwell. “She gave Ron a kiss on the cheek, and she gave Eddie a kiss on the cheek. So I thought, 'OK, I'm on for a kiss on the cheek here!' And I went to give her one and she shoved her hand out at me!"
A fleeting interaction, but that was probably for the best: at this point, Horner was still married to his ex-wife Beverley Allen, a former pub landlady who he first started dating in 1999. The pair appeared settled, and by early 2013 they were expecting their first child together.
However, all was not as it seemed. Firstly, Halliwell was cropping up in weird places. She attended the Monaco Grand Prix again, in May 2013, where sources told the Daily Mail she was “everywhere.” “It was really weird,” a crew member told the newspaper, “Geri just sort of appeared – I mean appeared everywhere.
“So after the race, Christian was giving an interview and she just wandered into the shot. She wasn’t supposed to be there and no one was expecting her, but then she was given a microphone and just sort of gatecrashed the interview.” At this point, Allen would have been six months pregnant. She gave birth to her and Horner’s daughter, Olivia, in October 2013, though Horner missed the birth because he was at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Then in late 2013, when Olivia was only a few months old, Horner and Allen split. By March 2014, he was dating Halliwell.
A speedy and somewhat sparsely attended wedding
As soon as Halliwell and Horner got together, things shifted into gear: the pair moved quickly, and announced their engagement via the pages of The Times in November 2014 after “months of dating”. Upon their engagement, a friend of Geri’s told the Daily Mail that she had been “following” Horner for years.
Public opinion was not kind towards the couple, and Halliwell has spent years trying to repair her reputation after she was tarnished by the “homewrecker” label.
Things weren’t so different in private, either. Horner’s parents were noticeably absent at he and Halliwell’s wedding in May 2015, leading to much speculation over whether they approved of the pairing at all.
But nothing was stopping these two from becoming one, and other friends and family, including Sir Jackie Stewart, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French and former F1 driver David Coulthard were in attendance on the big day. However, St Mary’s Church in Bedfordshire, the location for the wedding, was a little lacking in spice: only Emma Bunton, one of Geri’s four bandmates, turned up to the wedding.
That being said, Victoria Beckham and Melanie Brown did send their well wishes via Twitter on the day (this was back in the era when celebrities actually used Twitter). “@GeriHalliwell Sending u love and happiness. Im so sad I couldn't be with you on your special day x I love u x,” Posh Spice wrote.
Scary Spice added: “@GeriHalliwell wishing you the most beautiful special day of your life,I love you xxxx.”
Wedded bliss and gushy WiFi passwords
The immediate years that followed the Halliwell-Horner nuptials were that of effusive marital bliss. In October 2016, roughly a year and a half after the pair’s wedding, then-44-year-old Halliwell announced she was pregnant with Horner’s child. This was the second child for both partners: as well as Olivia, Horner’s daughter with Beverley Allen, Halliwell also shared a daughter, Bluebell Madonna, with her ex-boyfriend Sacha Gervasi. The Horners’ baby boy, Montague (aka Monty), was born in January 2017. According to Geri, the relations between the various parents and children is “totally harmonious”.
Geri and Christian were known for their exuberant affections for each other. Visitors to the couples’ lavish Cotswolds country home were treated to the sight of “Mr and Mrs Horner, est. 2015” scatter cushions and, if in need of the WiFi, would have had to input the password “Wonderful Husband”. According to the Daily Mail, sources have described Halliwell as “sticking to [Horner] like glue,” following him from room to room.
Misconduct investigations and questionable Whatsapp messages
The Horners’ wedded bliss came crashing down around them earlier this month, when a report from Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf claimed that a Red Bull employee had made serious allegations about Horner to the team’s parent company, Red Bull GmbH.
The Times then reported that the accusations came from a woman, and concerned “inappropriate, controlling behaviour”. Horner denied them vehemently, with the Red Bull principal even sending the Daily Mail a text at one point calling the claims “nuts”.
Then, on 28 February, Horner was cleared of misconduct and his slate was wiped clean. But less than 24 hours later, Whatsapps allegedly sent by Horner to a female colleague were circulated to a group of journalists and F1 officials. The WhatsApps, of which the authenticity has not yet been confirmed, allegedly contain images and messages of a sexual nature.
Horner responded to the leak with a short statement: “I won’t comment on anonymous speculation, but to reiterate, I have always denied the allegations. I respected the integrity of the independent investigation and fully cooperated with it every step of the way.
“It was a thorough and fair investigation conducted by an independent specialist barrister and it has concluded, dismissing the complaint made. I remain fully focused on the start of the season.”
According to a friend of Halliwell’s who spoke to the Daily Mail, Halliwell will be ‘destroyed’ by the new development. “Geri has been living in this happy, happy bubble for so many years now,” the source said. “She thought that it had all gone away, she was delighted and over the moon when she learned Christian had been cleared.
“Geri was pilloried when she got together with Christian because he had just had another baby with another woman but she has worked hard to rid that image of herself and Christian, and in particular that she is a homewrecker. Now it has all come crashing down. The tears stopped when the judgment came in on Wednesday, now they absolutely will have started again.”
