If you grew up watching British daytime TV in the 90s and 2000s, you probably remember Grant Bovey as the man standing next to Anthea Turner at every red carpet event and magazine shoot. But there's a lot more to his story than a famous marriage. Grant Bovey built a property empire worth around £100 million, lost nearly all of it in the 2008 crash, went bankrupt owing £50 million, and then watched his marriage fall apart after an affair with a woman half his age. Here's the full story, told in order, so you can actually follow how one thing led to the next.

Who Is Grant Bovey?

Grant Michael Bovey was born in March 1961 in Nottingham, England. He didn't come from money. His mother worked as a seamstress, and his father worked at a local cinema, which is a pretty big contrast to the multi-million-pound lifestyle he'd chase later on.

He left school without any A-levels and started as a telephone engineer, then moved into selling women's clothing at markets. Not exactly the resume you'd expect from someone who'd later run a £100 million property company. In his twenties, he got into television production and set up his own company, Watershed Pictures, which made sports and entertainment videos. One of his more notable projects was a 1992 video called Keegan on Keegan, featuring footballer Kevin Keegan.

But property is where Bovey found his real ambition.

How Grant Bovey Made His Money: The Imagine Homes Story

In the late 1990s, the buy-to-let market in the UK was booming, and Bovey saw his opening. In 2003, he founded Imagine Homes Ltd, a residential property investment company that grew into one of the biggest bespoke property firms in the country.

The business model was actually pretty simple once you break it down. Imagine Homes would buy new-build homes directly from developers, often at a discount, then sell them on to individual investors. As part of the deal, Imagine also handled the rental management and promised investors a guaranteed rental income. It was an attractive pitch during a housing boom, and at its peak, the company was reportedly worth around £100 million.

Bovey and Anthea Turner were making serious money during this stretch too. Reports put their combined income at more than £4.3 million over two years, which included over £600,000 paid to Anthea through consultancy fees and loans. They lived it up accordingly, with an £11 million Surrey mansion set on 100 acres and a £6 million ski chalet in the French Alps.

Why Imagine Homes Collapsed: The Credit Crunch Explained

Here's the part the business model didn't account for: what happens when the market stops going up.

The 2008 financial crisis hit the property sector especially hard, and companies like Imagine Homes, which relied heavily on borrowed money and a steady flow of new buyers, were dangerously exposed. It wasn't just bad luck. It was a structural risk built into the whole model. When credit dried up and buyers disappeared, guaranteed-rent promises became very expensive obligations with no new income coming in to cover them.

Imagine Homes had already posted losses of £6.4 million and £2.8 million in the two financial years before the crash. When the crisis hit, Bovey was forced into emergency talks with Halifax Bank of Scotland, his biggest lender. The bank eventually took control of the company, and Bovey had to walk away entirely.

Around 140 employees lost their jobs. Roughly 200 unsecured creditors, mostly small investors, were left owed as much as £3.4 million between them, and most were told they wouldn't see that money back.

One story that stuck with a lot of people at the time was Dawn Shields, a 43-year-old cleaner who said she was owed nearly £8,000 for four months of work cleaning Bovey's luxury show flats in Chelsea. "I find it infuriating," she said. "Bovey is living in a multimillion-pound house. I'm owed money, while he lives in luxury." It's a detail that puts a human face on what could otherwise just read as a business failure on paper.

In 2010, Bovey was personally declared bankrupt, admitting he couldn't repay £50 million in debts. He was discharged from bankruptcy in March 2011, just over a year later. Being discharged doesn't mean the money reappears or the reputation damage goes away. It mainly means the legal restrictions on him as an individual were lifted, though the fallout from Imagine Homes followed him for years afterwards.

The couple had already sold their £10 million Surrey estate, Barbins Grange, in 2009 to help cover the losses. They downsized to a £6 million home in the village of Hascombe, previously owned by DJ Chris Evans. Even that move wasn't clean. Bovey was photographed being served legal papers by a bailiff right outside the new house.

What made things worse was that Anthea herself was later sued for £1.6 million by Bovey's bankruptcy creditors, who argued the sale of Barbins Grange should be unwound to help repay what was owed. It's a reminder that the financial wreckage from a business collapse like this doesn't stay contained to one person, even years after the bankruptcy itself.

Despite all of it, Bovey didn't step away from property for long. He quickly set up a new venture called the Distressed Property Company, aiming to buy unsold homes from struggling developers and remarket them. Unsurprisingly, that move frustrated creditors who were still waiting on money from Imagine Homes.

Looking back, Bovey has been candid about how close to the edge it took him. "I was on my knees. Completely and utterly on my knees," he said. "I was ridiculed and singularly blamed for the demise of the property market in the UK. Then I was publicly humiliated. I felt like ending it all."

Grant Bovey and Anthea Turner: How the Relationship Started

Before Anthea, Bovey was married to Della Chapman. They wed in 1991 and had three daughters together. That marriage ended in 1998 after Bovey began an affair with Anthea Turner, who at the time was married to DJ Peter Powell.

Interestingly, the connection with Anthea started through work, not romance. Bovey had produced two fitness videos featuring her, Anthea Turner Body Basics in 1996 and Tone, Lift and Condition: The Inch Buster in 1999, before he left Della.

Grant and Anthea married in August 2000, in what became one of the most talked-about weddings in British tabloid history, though not for a good reason. Photos from the ceremony showed the couple posing with Cadbury's Snowflake chocolate bars after OK! magazine reportedly paid £250,000 for the wedding photo rights and included free chocolate bars with every copy of the issue. It became known as "Flakegate," and it did real damage to Anthea's public image. She faced accusations of undisclosed product placement at her own wedding, and many people who followed her career at the time say it contributed to a noticeable dip afterwards.

The Affair with Zoe de Mallet Morgan

The marriage lasted 15 years on paper, but it was under strain for a lot of that time, especially once the financial pressure from Imagine Homes set in. In the early 2010s, Anthea discovered that Grant was having an affair with Zoe de Mallet Morgan, a socialite and interior designer who was in her mid-twenties at the time, roughly half Bovey's age.

Anthea has spoken about that moment publicly, including during an appearance on Channel 5's In Therapy. "What happened was the flag went up, and I found out what was really going on," she said. "I was an emotional mess, a wreck, and we decided not to throw it all away."

They tried to make it work. It didn't last. "Nobody tried harder to save their marriage; I know I did my best," Anthea reflected later. "What I didn't realise was that Grant was doing sleight of hand. I think it was worse the second time."

They separated in 2013 and officially divorced in October 2015. Anthea has admitted that toward the end, she resorted to some pretty desperate detective work, checking his credit card statements, reading his texts, and even tracking his cycling routes through a GPS device attached to his bike. "Fear makes us make bad decisions, hold on, put up and shut up," she said. "I knew it was time to go. But honestly, death is easier than divorce."

She's also opened up about a quieter kind of heartbreak from those years: not being able to have children. "I so wanted children, and it wasn't working," she said. "You get to this point where you go, 'I've got to stop.' If I'm not careful, it becomes an obsession."

Who Is Zoe de Mallet Morgan?

Zoe de Mallet Morgan is a socialite and interior designer who became publicly known through her relationship with Bovey. She was around 24 to 27 during the years the affair and relationship played out.

The couple reportedly dated for about four years, and their split has a much more specific story behind it than most reports let on. According to accounts at the time, things fell apart during a rocky ten-day holiday in Ibiza that made the roughly 26-year age gap between them feel impossible to ignore. There was also a family dimension to it. Bovey's daughters from his first marriage reportedly refused to meet Zoe, which added even more strain to a relationship that was already struggling.

They split amicably shortly before Bovey entered the Celebrity Big Brother house in 2016. A representative for Bovey said at the time, "Grant and Zoe did not split because of any TV show. They split amicably a few weeks ago because they both realised they wanted different things for the future."

What Has Grant Bovey Been Up to Since?

After the divorce, Bovey tried his hand at reality TV, appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016. He didn't last long. He was the first contestant evicted that series, and during his brief stint in the house, he was accused of flirting with Geordie Shore star Marnie Simpson. He also used the platform to admit publicly that Anthea "didn't deserve" how he'd treated her.

He made headlines again in 2017 after he was spotted using the dating app Bumble with his age listed as 46 or 47, roughly a decade younger than his actual age of 56 at the time. When asked about it, he kept it simple: "It is my private life. I am definitely 56."

Going back a bit further, in 2002, before any of the financial collapse happened, Bovey took part in a charity boxing match against comedian Ricky Gervais and lost on points after three 90-second rounds.

Where Is Grant Bovey Now?

These days, Bovey keeps a noticeably lower profile than he did during his Imagine Homes or Celebrity Big Brother years. He resurfaces occasionally in interviews, usually reflecting on the financial and personal fallout of the late 2000s and early 2010s rather than launching new headline-grabbing ventures. Unlike his early career, there's been no return to the scale of business he had before the crash.

Anthea Turner, meanwhile, has largely moved forward with her own career. She's spoken openly about using her divorce experience to help other people going through the same thing, and she's stayed active in television. Most recently, she appeared on the shopping channel Must Have Ideas in August 2025 and has been working as an ambassador for Crystal Care Collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Grant Bovey make his money?

He built his fortune through Imagine Homes, a company he founded in 2003 that bought new-build homes from developers and sold them to individual investors, while also managing the rentals and promising guaranteed income. At its peak, the company was worth an estimated £100 million.

What happened between Grant Bovey and Anthea Turner?

They married in 2000 after Bovey left his first wife for Anthea. Financial pressure from his business collapse strained the marriage, and in the early 2010s, Anthea discovered he was having an affair with Zoe de Mallet Morgan. They separated in 2013 and divorced in October 2015.

Is Grant Bovey still bankrupt?

He was declared bankrupt in 2010 after admitting he couldn't repay £50 million in debts, and he was discharged from bankruptcy in March 2011. Discharge lifted the legal restrictions tied to bankruptcy, but the financial and reputational fallout from Imagine Homes continued to affect him for years afterwards, including a separate £1.6 million lawsuit against Anthea over the sale of their former home.

Where is Grant Bovey now?

He keeps a relatively low public profile today, occasionally appearing in interviews to reflect on the events of the 2000s and 2010s. He hasn't returned to running a business on the scale of Imagine Homes.

Who did Grant Bovey cheat with?

He had an affair with Zoe de Mallet Morgan, a socialite and interior designer who was roughly half his age at the time. Their relationship continued for about four years after his divorce before ending amicably.

Is Grant Bovey still with Zoe de Mallet Morgan?

No. Reports indicate their relationship fell apart during a difficult holiday in Ibiza, with the age gap and family tension between Zoe and Bovey's daughters both playing a role. They split shortly before he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016.