Who is ‘Mrs MSE?’ Martin Lewis’ VERY glamorous weather star-turned-tech expert wife Lara Lewington has shunned the spotlight to carve out her own career – despite the couple being worth more than £123 million
- MoneySavingExpert Martin Lewis married journalist Lara Lewington in 2009
- Read more: Martin Lewis shares 2014 throwback pic with rarely-seen wife Lara Lewington as fans insist she hasn’t aged one bit
This week MoneySavingExpert Martin Lewis shared a photo on Instagram of himself with wife Lara Lewington taken 14 years ago – the year they were wed – cooing that while he had aged ’28 years’ in that time, his wife looks ‘exactly the same’.
The couple, who share ten-year-old daughter Sapphire, were married in May 2009, with Lewis already a household name thanks to his irrepressible onslaught of money-saving tips – that have won him more than 880,000 followers on Instagram.
Glamourous Lewington, at 44, is seven years junior to 51-year-old Lewis and the financial whizz has in the past been forced to bat away suggestions that his wife was a ‘golddigger’.
Two years ago, Lewis’ personal fortune was valued at £123million on The Sunday Times Rich List – after setting up MoneySavingExpert.com in 2003 for £100, he sold it to MoneySupermarket ten years later for a life-changing £87million.
In 2020 after Lara, who Lewis calls affectionately ‘Mrs MSE’, appeared alongside him on a lockdown broadcast, a fan remarked: ‘#MartinLewis What first attracted you to the millionaire Martin Lewis… comes to mind…’ – only to get short-shrift from the TV money man.
Martin Lewis and Lara Lexington, aka Mrs MSE as her TV star husband calls her. While Lexington 44 has had to endure accusations that she’s a ‘gold-digger’ – the glamorous journalist has carved out a successful career as a tech expert in recent years
A taste for tech: the star co-hosts BBC show Click, and has become an expert commentator on AI
Lewis fired back: ‘I know you think it’s a joke, but actually it’s offensive both to me and my wife – you’re accusing her of being a gold digger.’
Indeed, despite being married to one of the most famous men in Britain, Lewington keeps a low profile, concentrating on her own successful career as a tech journalist for the BBC.
Here, FEMAIL looks at the woman behind the man who brought financial know-how to the nation…
EARLY LIFE AND A FIRST JOB ON IT’S A KNOCKOUT
A young Lara with her mother; she grew up in West Sussex and as a young teen would help out in her father’s Bognor Regis pier sweet shop – before the family moved to Surrey
Lewington was born in Chichester, West Sussex where her father ran a sweetshop on the end of the pier at nearby seaside resort Bognor Regis.
The future journalist would help out during school holidays, she says on her website – admitting that, without a sweet tooth, she wasn’t always partial to the treats sold.
Later, the family would move to Surrey, with Lexington attending independent Surbiton High School. A talented musician, the broadcaster can read music.
As a teen, she studied at St Mary’s University in Twickenham and while living in South West London, the aspiring TV star landed a job as a runner on the game show It’s a Knockout – taking the first step in her broadcasting career.
While Lara shies away from attention now, she did take part in several lingerie photoshoots in her early 20s.
A certified ‘gym junkie’, the glamourous TV star told the Independent in 2008 that she prefers an early night to partying.
MEETING MR MONEYSAVINGEXPERT AND LARA’S BIG TV BREAK
The couple – who have a seven-year age gap – met in the early noughties, as both of their careers were taking off (Pictured in 2008, the year before their wedding)
It’s thought the couple met in the early noughties, just as Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert website took off.
On his Desert Island Discs episode in 2020, he revealed that the couple would often take off on a hired motorbike while abroad in the early days of their romance, listening to Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons.
He said: ‘We would occasionally hire a motorbike when we were on holiday and we’d sit there and we’d sing this song in the sun, on the back of a moped.’
Sunny outlook: The rising star landed a job on Channel 5 in 2003 – the same year MoneySavingExpert was founded – and worked for the broadcaster for six years. Pictured presenting the weather on the BBC in 2010
2003 appears to have been a breakthrough year for both of them, with Lewis taking on more and more TV work promoting his money-saving tips – with his fledging financial website rapidly growing in success.
Meanwhile, Lewington would land a role on Channel 5 presenting the weather, which led to more high profile journalist roles with the broadcaster, including a foray into showbiz journalism for Five News. A similar role at Sky News followed.
In 2009, the couple – still largely managing to avoid the spotlight on their relationship – were wed on May 31st of that year; their first dance was Can’t Take My Eyes Off You…and there was no lucrative magazine photoshoot, with both preferring to keep their nuptials private.
An £87 MILLLION WINDFALL AND A NEW DAUGHTER
While Lara is often seen on the red carpet with her husband; she rarely discusses her famous husband
Nearly a decade after setting up MoneySavingExpert, Lewis sold it to MoneySupermarket for a cool £87million – effectively setting the couple up for life.
Such fortunes didn’t see Lewington rest on her laurels though, and she landed a new job as a reporter the same year, discussing all things tech on BBC show Click. She’s currently still a co-presenter on the programme with fellow tech expert Spencer Kelly.
In November 2012, Lewington gave birth to the couple’s only child Sapphire Susan Lewis, who’s now 10.
Lewis admitted that his wife is the tougher one when it comes to finances and Sapphire, telling The Sunday Times during lockdown that he struggles not to be a cash-splashing dad.
Lewis affectionately bemoaned his wife for looking ‘exactly the same’ as she did when the pair were wed 14 years ago
He said: ‘When my daughter was born, I remember saying: “I’ll buy her everything she needs, but not everything she wants”. Unfortunately, I didn’t factor in her special power. Those eyes.’
He added of Sapphire, who he calls ‘mini MSE’: ‘I’m helpless and usually resort to saying, “Ask mummy”, because mummy is stronger than me. We don’t splurge on her, but one of my greatest joys is making her happy’.
A STELLAR TV CAREER – AND BECOMING A TECH TIKTOK STAR
The journalist and documentary maker now regularly takes to the airwaves to discuss how technology is evolving
TikTok tech: In recent months, Lewington has shared videos of her testing out the latest gadgets. Right: Pictured trying out an AI workout – the TV star says she’s a certified ‘gym junkie’
While Lewis regularly shares snaps of the couple out on the town, his wife keeps their relationship more private, with the financial whizz only cropping up occasionally on her laralewlew Instagram page
With the Lewis/Lexington fortune now predicted to be more than £123 million, the mother-of-one continues to focus on her successful broadcasting career rather than sitting pretty in the couple’s swish London home – which boasts a TV studio so Lewis can broadcast from home.
Instead Lexington has further honed her craft as one of the country’s leading tech journalists, becoming a commentator on Artificial Intelligence and even posting her own TikTok tech videos in recent months.
Lewis features only occasionally on his wife’s Instagram account – she has more than 37,000 followers – with posts dedicated instead to evolving technology and her own television and radio appearances.
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