Multimillionaire businesswoman Jacqueline Gold opens the doors to her stunning new mansion in this week's HELLO! and tells how the success of erotic novel 50 Shades of Grey has seen sales at her company Ann Summers go through the roof. "The whole Fifty Shades phenomenon has been fantastic for Ann Summers," says Jacqueline. "It's opened up a lot of new doors on a business level and there are a lot of quite surprising potential partnerships we're negotiating at the moment – companies who would never have thought of getting involved with Ann Summers before - four of which, excitingly, are very close to fruition."
The 52-year-old Chief Executive, who's married to city trader Dan Cunningham, 17 years her junior, gives readers an exclusive glimpse inside her sprawling new home, which boasts an 80 sq metre interior-designed Great Hall and is set in two-and-a-half acres of Surrey countryside.
Jacqueline, who is Britain's 16th richest woman, worth a cool £180 million, reveals how a large part of her spiralling budget to renovate the property, which she moved into earlier this year, has gone on security, after she and Dan were made aware of "a significant threat" against them. As a result, a 24-hour security guard patrols the property, and there are 16 audio-visual cameras around the house that are monitored from a central station. "We were not taking any chances and have everything you could possibly have security wise to ensure the property is watertight," says Jacqueline.
"At first, it was frightening, coming to a new property we weren't familiar with, which was so much bigger than our old house, knowing there was this threat hanging over us. "But I'd be surprised if there was a house in Surrey as secure as this one – we really have thought of every eventuality – and as a family we're very vigilant, as are the people who work for us. "See the full exclusive interview in HELLO! Magazine Issue 1256, out from Tuesday December 11.
