IT was the end of a perfect summer in the South of France, but within days of returning to the UK, Chloe Khan’s world came crashing down.
Almost all of her incredible designer collection of bags and shoes was stolen, in what she believes could have been a targeted attack.
And now two weeks on, the 35-year-old, who first rose to fame on X Factor, is no closer to finding any of her items – despite offering a £10k reward for information.
But Chloe, who believes she lost £400k of designer clothes in the robbery, has vowed to continue shopping and sharing her glam life online.
“I am a materialistic person and I do love beautiful stuff, but at the same time my family’s all healthy and happy,” she said.
“They’ve already taken all my physical items off me, they’re not going to take my personality off me as well.
“That’s what I enjoy posting, that’s my lifestyle post, I’m not going to wear an average outfit.”
Speaking for the first time about the devastating blow, Chloe, who lives in Belgravia with her private businessman boyfriend, said: “I was completely wiped out.
“It was around £400k worth of stuff – it was like my lifelong collection of stuff. I took everything over so that my closet was nice over there.”
The items included a pink Birkin bag, worth £30k, another orange Birkin, a Christian Dior Himalayan Lady Dior worth £26k, as well as numerous luxury items and one- off pieces that have never been worn.
Chloe travelled back to England via train so her beloved pomeranian pooch could be with her – while her driver was tasked with bringing her belongings back via car.
She loaded up the car with five cases full to the brim with her expensive wardrobe, but three days after she arrived home there was no sign of her items.
“I presumed it was still in transit. But it turns out after arriving back in the UK our driver parked the vehicle near to where he lives instead of my home.
“Without me knowing that my items were already back in the UK, he left the car there, the vehicle there for three days in a car park that says ‘do not leave valuable items’ and the car was smashed into and everything was taken.”
Her valuables were later found in a field a mile away from the car park by a dog walker, who managed to track Chloe down.
The police were contacted and CCTV showed a car entering the carpark around the time the robbery was expected to have taken place. No arrests have been made.
It’s been incredibly difficult for Chloe to deal with and has left her questioning her driver.
She said: “I’ve been really suspicious of the driver, but he’s worked for my boyfriend for 23 years, they’ve got a really close relationship.
“The whole family all really trusted him, but the day after it happened, the driver resigned the same day. There was no apology, not even an ‘oh my God, are you okay?’
“So obviously at the time I thought I had clearly been set up here.
“But now after speaking with my boyfriend and his family – we think he’s mentioned to someone he’s bringing all this stuff over and I think they’ve targeted it.
“The information has got to the wrong person. So I think it’s more of a loose lips, stupid situation. Regardless, it’s just such a neglectful thing to do and it was so avoidable by him.”
Chloe has been dating her boyfriend for the past year but is yet to reveal his identity.
She decided to share news of her robbery on social media in the hope she could retrieve some of the items.
But Chloe came under fire from trolls who told her “you deserve it for sharing all your stuff online”.
It didn’t deter the star though and the next day she headed to Harrods to try and build up her collection once again.
Unfortunately she didn’t have the right insurance, which means she’s been unable to claim any money back.
Speaking to me as they holidayed in the Serengeti – in the same villa Jeff Bezos stayed in the week before – she said: “I don’t think this has happened because of what I share online although I do know obviously it can make you a big target to share stuff like that online.
“What it has done is give me a trauma about suitcases to be honest because just a few days before this my daughter was in France travelling with my Louis Vuitton suitcase and it was stolen.
“I just never want to see a suitcase again and I also don’t want to transport my stuff from place to place.”
Despite everything she has been through, Chloe isn’t letting it put a damper on her incredible life.
“I’ve actually surprised myself how I’ve dealt with it because I’ve not cried once, I’ve not actually let it get me down,” she said.
Chloe has come a long way from when she first appeared on TV back in 2009 on the BBC Three show Snog, Marry, Avoid.
But it was the following year that the star – who went by the name Chloe Mafia – really became a household name.
In 2010, she auditioned for the X Factor and warbled her way through Summertime and a Shakira song – and got through to boot camp.
But she was kicked off the show after admitting she’d stayed up all night partying.
A few other reality TV shows followed and Chloe – who had her daughter Destiny when she was just 16 – went on to earn millions through a webcam business.
During lockdown she was earning $700k a month on OnlyFans, which she gave up last year when she met her man.
Reflecting on her success, she said: “It just feels like a completely different life.
“It doesn’t feel like two chapters of one book, it feels like two separate books.”
Now Chloe and her daughter, who is now 18, spend their days travelling the world in luxury.
She describes her little girl as a ‘stay at home daughter’, while she is a ‘spoilt girlfriend’ and is enjoying every second of it.
It’s also meant she has been able to move on from the robbery – with a very positive outlook.
“I thought to myself the other day – there are people in life that have struggles, some people might struggle with mental health or some people with actual physical health conditions or some people might have financial difficulties,” she said.
“For me, for some reason, mine is that I always get robbed. And I think if that’s my worst thing in life then my life’s actually quite good then, because it could be so much worse.
“When I got the news that all my stuff had been robbed I thought, do you know what, at this exact same minute someone’s got the news that they’ve got a month to live. Being robbed is not the worst thing in the world yet, it’s s**t. But it’s happened before and I’ll start again.”