demanded

AT the grand old age of 70 most men are settling down and enjoying retirement, not knee deep in nappies after welcoming their EIGHTH child. 

But nothing about Frasier actor Kelsey Grammer’s life has ever followed a normal playbook – even up to his fourth wife demanding five weddings. 

He weathered three failed marriages – one was physically abusive, another sexless and the other ended after just 12 months – prior to falling for Virgin Atlantic air stewardess Kayte Walsh. 

The daughter of Bristol City footballer Alan Walsh and 24 years his junior, she tamed the “wild man of American comedy”, who had long battled drug and alcohol addiction.

She gave him the one thing he was missing – cosy domesticity – after endless family heartache including his sister being raped and murdered, two half brothers dying in a freak accident and his estranged dad being gunned down when he was just 13.

The couple already had a brood of three – Faith, 13, Gabriel, 10, and Auden James, eight – prior to Kelsey announcing “we’ve just had our fourth” on yesterday’s episode of Pod Meets World.

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New arrival Christopher, born on Friday, takes the actor’s baby tally to eight with four different mums.

And a source told the Mail he’s “thrilled to finally have time to fully enjoy being a father all over again… [and] embracing the hands-on parenting he missed in the past”.

There’s no doubt Kayte put an end to Kelsey’s turbulent years in the wilderness, which were plagued with tragedy, heartache and more faux pas than his pompous, gaffe-prone character Dr Frasier Crane.  

Yet their romance got off to a bumpy start – as the actor was still married to ex-Playboy pin-up and future Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Camille Meyer. 

Kelsey would later claim his third-wife only “married me because I was Frasier”. At his peak, he raked in more than £1million per episode for the show, which ran for 11 seasons. 

He also described their marriage, which spanned 14 years until 2011, as being “so broken” that they “had not had sex in a decade” and claimed she asked for a divorce the day of his mother’s funeral in 2008.

For a long time Kelsey knew the relationship was on the rocks, admitting it was “over as soon as it began” yet he stayed with her as a “self-imposed sentence”, mainly out of stubbornness and for the sake of their two children, Mason, 24, and Jude, 21.

He met Kayte in 2009 as she showed him to his seat on a Virgin Atlantic Upper Class flight from Los Angeles to London, where he was due to appear in a play.

She claimed it was “love at first sight” – dismissing the much-joked about claim of cabin crew being on the “lookout” for wealthy suitors – and noticed “this golden glow around him”. 

They chatted about music, England and life at the plane’s bar before he slipped her his number and told her the hotel he was staying at. 

Kayte was “blown away by how lovely he was” but uncertain and “indecisive” about whether to call him. 

She told the Mail: “I said, ‘God, if I’m meant to call him, I want a sign.’ I looked out the bus window and saw a sign reading, ‘Frasier Suites’. I was like, ‘OK, that’s not enough.’ 

I was her big brother, I was supposed to protect her – I could not. I have never gotten over it… It very nearly destroyed me

Kelsey Grammer

“Four minutes later, we passed an art store called Crane and a few moments later, we drove past the hotel where he was staying.”  

Secret mistress

Two days later they went for a coffee, where he confided he was “in a situation he wasn’t happy in and I needed to be patient”. She claimed they spent months only kissing and holding hands.

It wasn’t long before Camille discovered Kelsey’s mistress. Allegedly when she arrived at the couple’s New York apartment to be told by the doorman ‘Mrs Grammer’ was already inside.

Fire and fury followed. The former Playboy bunny claimed she was dumped by text, sniped about his bedroom skill and made another lurid claim he liked to dress in women’s clothes.

At the time Kelsey responded: “Never been a cross-dresser but I have been very sexually adventurous. I’m not ashamed of anything I’ve done in the bedroom.” 

He considered the slings to be “pathetic” attempts to remain famous – yet as a “parting gift” to give her a new direction, he helped to secure her a spot on Real Housewives and even appeared in a single episode.

The couple married just 15 days after Kelsey’s £30million divorce from Camille was finalised in February 2011. It followed a stern demand before Kayte accepted his proposal. 

She recalled: “Because he’s been married so many times before I said, ‘You have to marry me more times.’ I’m his fourth wife, so I said, ‘You have to marry me at least five times.’”

Lavish nuptials followed – the first was New York, followed by an Elvis officiated Viva Las Vegas do, another at their LA home and the final, an especially romantic service in Giverny, France.

The last was inspired by Kayte’s favourite artwork Monet’s Bridge Over a Pond of Lilies. He took her to the bridge the painter used, got down on one knee and proposed.  

She recalled: “It was a complete shock. Kelsey had arranged everything with the Mayor so we got to say our vows in French. It was lovely.”

Serial killer slayed sister

The romance with Kayte has undoubtedly given Kelsey the peace and stability he has lacked throughout his turbulent life.

He was born to parents Sally, a dancer, and Allen, a coffee shop owner, in Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands, but raised in New Jersey by his mum after they divorced when he was two.

At the age of 12, his grandad died of cancer and the following year his estranged dad was murdered during a wave of racial violence after Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968. 

Seven years later, his younger sister Karen, 18, was kidnapped, raped and murdered by serial killer Freddie Glenn, who killed three women.

Glenn, now 68, who Kelsey remarkably forgave many later years, was sentenced to die in the gas chamber only for the death penalty to be scrapped.

“I was her big brother, I was supposed to protect her – I could not,” he said at the murderer’s 2009 parole hearing. “I have never gotten over it… It very nearly destroyed me.”

And just five years after losing Karen, two of his half-brothers were killed in a freak scuba diving accident. 

Unsurprisingly, that amount of trauma caused unbridled chaos in his personal life – with him stating they were “the catalyst that got me into a really big problem for at least the next 15 years”.

‘Chaos, insanity, mayhem’

He consistently battled cocaine and alcohol abuse – especially while filming Frasier and Cheers – and was known for being difficult to work with, one colleague described him as “one of the biggest jerks” he had ever met.

Kelsey was described as “oozing” onto set with “glazed over eyes, half asleep, going through whatever he was going through” yet when the director yelled ‘Action’, he was “pitch perfect”.

Because he’s been married so many times before I said, ‘You have to marry me more times’…You have to marry me at least five times

Kayte Grammer

He was regularly in trouble with the law too. Kelsey was charged at least four times for crimes including cocaine possession, drink driving and violating parole conditions.

The crimes, which spanned 1988 to 1996, resulted in 30 days jail time, more than 300 hours of community service, 90-day house arrest, fines in the thousands and a 30-day court mandated rehab stint. 

His relationships weren’t going well either. Kelsey’s first marriage to dance instructor Doreen Alderman lasted eight years until 1990, despite their relationship being over after less than 12 months. They share a daughter Spencer. 

Two years later Kelsey had a second child, Greer, who later appeared on MTV show Awkward, with make-up stylist Barrie Buckner.

He married former stripper Leigh-Anne Csuhany, who was three months pregnant, seven months after that. But their romance wouldn’t last. 

Kelsey filed for an annulment and evicted her from his home, alleging she was physically abusive to him. 

He claimed she once fired a gun at him and even on their wedding day, he was seen sporting a black eye from one of her violent attacks. 

In his autobiography, Kelsey claimed she convinced him he was “nothing, unattractive, untalented, undeserving of love and incapable of being loved by anyone but her” to ensure he would never leave. 

“She’d spit in my face, slap me, punch me, kick me, break glasses over my head, break windows, tear up pictures of my loved ones, threaten to kill me or herself,” he wrote. 

Shortly after the split, Leigh-Anne tried to kill herself. She suffered a miscarriage. 

Kelsey had a string of short-lived flings after, including with Playboy model Tammi Alexander, before his third marriage to fellow top-shelf mag pin-up Camille.  

Five weddings

Ultimately, it has been with Kayte where he has finally found happiness. But that contentment could have easily been derailed due to the tragedies they have faced as a couple.

Two of their pregnancies ended in miscarriage and Faith’s unborn sibling died in utero. Heartbreakingly, this often requires a mum to undergo labour to birth the deceased child.

Kayte admitted it was “devastating” for them but the blows further strengthened their relationship. Each baby has reminded them “life is a miracle” and to count their blessings.  

There was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, ‘Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.

Kelsey Grammer

His ever expanding brood has also given him a second chance at parenting, after admitting he took his eye off the ball with the older kids.

He said: “I have neglected a couple of the kids in my life, especially the first two,” he said. “I’m trying to make up for a little of it now. I’m still their dad, so you can always have [a] chance to show up.”

With a stable, loving home Kelsey’s addiction issues appear to have been kept at bay – despite in 2016 admitting he stopped attending AA because he likes to “enjoy a drink”. 

It’s known he was sober for years after his 1996 car crash while under the influence, which resulted in him being sent to rehab by the courts.  

Previously, Kelsey’s calling toward “chaos, insanity, mayhem” was spurred on by “running away from uncomfortable feelings” and being unable to “forgive myself” for his sister’s death.

He acknowledges having “a self-destructive part of me” that encouraged his addiction, which worsened his health and contributed to a near-fatal heart attack in 2008.

Kelsey added: “I always had something in the back of my head saying, ‘Okay. That’s enough now. Cut it out. You know why you’re doing this.’

“But there was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, ‘Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.’”

But now thanks to Kayte, he lives a calmer life – when not changing nappies at 5am – and previously she said their “favourite place is our sofa”.

There they snuggle up, eat popcorn while watching films and eventually fall asleep in each other’s arms. It’s a far cry from the decades of debauchery before. 

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Kayte says: “As a general rule I try to operate from love. I always wanted to find a family and the love of my life. That was my dream. I feel blessed.”

No doubt Kelsey feels it’s he who has been blessed, after finding the woman who saved his life and drastically changed his future for the better. 

Thirty-two African nations now spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare

More than 30 leading economists, former finance ministers and a central banker have called for immediate debt relief for low- and middle-income countries, warning that loan repayments are preventing governments from funding basic services.

In a letter released on Sunday, in advance of next month’s World Bank and IMF annual meetings, the group says countries are “defaulting on development” even when they keep up with debt payments.

“Countries around the world are paying exorbitant debt servicing costs instead of paying for schools, hospitals, climate action or other essential services,” the letter said.

Among the signatories are Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, former Central Bank of Colombia Governor Jose Antonio Ocampo, and former South African Finance Minister Trevor Manuel.

The economists say African governments now spend an average of 17 percent of state revenue on debt servicing. Thirty-two African nations spend more servicing external debt than funding healthcare, while 25 allocate more to debt than to education.

The letter says capping the average ratio of state revenue used on debt servicing at 10 percent could provide clean water to about 10 million people across 21 countries, and prevent approximately 23,000 deaths of children below five years of age each year.

The call comes as healthcare systems across Africa show signs of severe strain.

According to an ActionAid report published earlier this year, 97 percent of health workers in six African countries said their wages were insufficient to cover basic costs. Almost nine in 10 reported shortages of medicines and equipment due to budget cuts.

The public sector funding crisis is exacerbated by shrinking aid budgets. The United States, previously the world’s largest donor, has cut funding this year as the administration of President Donald Trump has shifted priorities away from aid.

The International Rescue Committee said 10 of the 13 countries hit hardest by the US aid cuts are African.

Economists warn that current debt relief efforts have failed. A framework under the auspices of the Group of 20 has so far relieved just 7 percent of the total external debt owed by at-risk countries.

They are calling on leaders to urgently reduce debt burdens, reform how the World Bank and IMF assess debt sustainability, and support a “Borrowers’ Club” so countries can negotiate from a position of strength.

“Bold action on debt means more children in classrooms, more nurses in hospitals, more action on climate change,” the letter concludes.

SAN DIEGO — President Clinton arrived here Monday pledging again to make special efforts to help Californians with their economic problems but asking that they in turn agree to the sacrifices demanded in his pending budget plan.

Clinton, beginning a two-day campaign-style swing through the West to gather support for his agenda, reminded a crowd of several hundred that greeted him at the North Island Naval Air Station that he had vowed his help for California’s problems during his campaign.

“We are going to work our hearts out in Washington in order to move this state together,” he said. And he cited his proposals to foster defense conversion, to provide federal support for California’s special immigration problems and to stimulate the economy in a way that would help California’s ailing real estate industry and small businesses.

“California needs an economic strategy that will be built from the grass roots up, but will have a partner in the White House,” he declared, adding, “the federal government’s going to do more to pay our fair share.”

At the same time, Clinton renewed his call for Americans to support his budget against resistance from congressional Republicans and others.

“When you hear people say ‘No, no, no,’ ask where they were for the last 12 years,” he said. Referring to his Republican predecessors, he said “the most popular thing to do in public life is to cut taxes and raise spending. But sooner or later your string runs out.”

Clinton’s appearance began the second straight week of forays into the country to drum up support for an economic program that has lost ground in the polls. On Monday evening he was scheduled to take questions from the public in a live, hourlong TV “town hall” broadcast from San Diego’s KGTV, Channel 10. Today he is to visit Los Angeles Valley College in Van Nuys to talk about worker retraining, and later to stop at a business on Florence Avenue in South-Central Los Angeles to promote his plans for urban redevelopment.

He spent much of Monday at a stop in Los Alamos, N. M., pointing to the Los Alamos National Laboratories, where the atomic bomb was developed during World War II, as proof of the potential of his five-year, $20-billion defense conversion plan.

Clinton said the 50-year-old laboratory’s early move into commercial enterprises proves that defense industries can be successfully converted to commercial use in the aftermath of the Cold War. But he also used the occasion to stress his No. 1 theme, that Congress needs to pass his economic program to cut the deficit and step up spending that will strengthen the economy.

In remarks at Los Alamos High School, Clinton said the 7,600-employee nuclear laboratory had made important contributions to the weapons research that kept pressure on the Soviet Union during the Cold War. He said that in the last several years the lab’s efforts to find commercial applications for its research had spawned 30 companies and 100 government-industry partnerships.

Clinton said such relationships would begin the kind of “economic chain reaction” that could help the nation create high paying jobs.

The laboratory, with an annual budget of $1 billion, conducts commercial research into batteries, oil recovery, advanced materials and other such projects. Clinton cited its advances in the process called ion implantation, which is used to make stronger materials and which grew out of research begun on the Strategic Defense Initiative, or “Star Wars,” launched by President Ronald Reagan.

Only last week, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin declared an official end to the “Star Wars” program. But Clinton acknowledged: “Something good came out of it, because people were looking to break down frontiers.”

But as he spoke about defense conversion, Clinton repeatedly moved into discussion of the need for sacrifices to cut the federal deficit. “Everybody’s for deficit reduction in general, it’s the details that swallow us whole,” he told a crowd of several thousand.

The Los Alamos laboratory had been spared deep cuts, but under Clinton’s proposed budget it faces about $40 million in budget cuts that officials say could force the layoff of about 100 people.

Clinton’s two-month old defense conversion program proposes to spend $19.6 billion over the next five years. The money would go to retrain workers displaced by military cutbacks, to allow early retirement of some military and civilian workers, for environmental cleanup and for grants to help military contractors find civilian applications for their work.

Critics have charged that the program underestimates the difficulty of converting defense businesses to civilian work. And they say that in any case the $19.6 billion will have only a limited effect in helping the 2.5 million workers who could lose their jobs in the next decade.

But Clinton asserted: “It is a good beginning.”

Pressed by slumping polls and unresolved questions about his Bosnian policy, Clinton has sought to rebuild support for his program by explaining its payoff for Americans, and particularly for the middle class.

The President hopes that strong public support will bring pressure on Congress to go along with his economic and health care plans.

Clinton’s appearance in Los Alamos was well tailored to his goal of using the news media to drum up support. To ensure that enthusiasm was high, the organizers bused in thousands of high school students; they passed out American flags just before the event began.

Located on a valley overlooked by the snowcapped Sangre de Cristo mountains, the event made a striking picture.

Clinton came close to a faux pas at one point in his remarks, calling Los Alamos “Los Angeles.”

A chorus of boos followed. But Clinton tried to make a graceful recovery:

“I’m going there tomorrow,” he explained to the crowd. “And if I say ‘Los Alamos’ there, will you cheer?”

As has become his habit, Clinton spent part of his day conducting interviews with TV news stations, in an effort to give his message wide and largely unchallenged access to local markets.

The President’s California visit is his second since the election to a state that his advisers say is key to his strategy for 1996.

California’s unemployment rate fell to 8.6% in April, from 9.4% in March. But the state’s rate still lags far behind the national rate of 7%.

Part of Clinton’s hope to help California was stymied when Senate Republicans blocked the $19-billion economic stimulus proposal that would have channeled more than $2 billion to the state.

After the TV town hall, Clinton was scheduled to appear at a reception for local politicians and supporters at the television station, then to attend a dinner at the home of Larry and Shelia Lawrence. The Lawrences own the Hotel Del Coronado and are Clinton supporters.

NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs demanded $20,000 from Casandra “Cassie” Ventura’s mother and threatened to release explicit sex tapes of his longtime girlfriend when he became angry that she was dating someone else, the mother testified Tuesday at the hip-hop mogul’s sex trafficking trial.

Regina Ventura said she felt “physically sick” when she received an email from Cassie in late 2011 saying Combs was planning to release two explicit videos of her and send someone to hurt her and the man she was seeing, rapper Kid Cudi.

“I did not understand a lot of it. The sex tapes threw me,” Ventura told the Manhattan federal court.

Ventura, of New London, Conn., said she then received a demand from Combs for $20,000 “to recoup money he had spent on her because he was unhappy she was in a relationship with Kid Cudi.”

“He was angry that he had spent money on her and she went with another person,” she said.

Ventura said she used a home equity loan to make the payment because “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.” Days later, she said, the money was returned, and before long, Cassie was dating Combs again.

Ventura testified for less than a half-hour, in part because defense attorney Marc Agnifilo declined to cross-examine her. During her testimony, the jury was shown photographs of bruises on Cassie’s body that Ventura testified were taken when her daughter came home for Christmas in 2011.

Before the jury arrived Tuesday, Agnifilo tried to persuade Judge Arun Subramanian to disallow the testimony, saying it was “purely prejudicial” because it illustrated the wide difference between the financial status of the Ventura family and Combs. The judge allowed it though, saying the threats to release sex tapes and harm Cassie made it an instance of “potential extortion.”

The testimony came during the second week of the trial, which is scheduled to last up to two months. If convicted of the charges he faces, including racketeering, the Bad Boy Records founder could be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he used threats and his powerful position in the hip-hop world to abuse women and others, and force Cassie to take part in drug-fueled sexual performances with other men that she said left her too drained to pursue her singing career.

Earlier Tuesday, David James, Combs’ personal assistant from 2007 to 2009, told the court that the job seemed to come with increasing perils. He said he quit when he realized that his life had been put in danger after he was forced to drive a car in which an angry Combs sat in the back seat with three handguns on his lap.

James said his job sometimes required him to ensure that hotel rooms where Combs stayed under the name “Frank Black” were stocked with the musician’s comforts, including fresh underwear, an iPod, apple sauce, vodka, baby oil, Viagra and condoms.

There were also surprising moments, James said, like one in 2008 when Combs asked him to bring an iPod from his Miami home to a hotel room. Upon entering, James said he saw Cassie on the bed with a white comforter pulled up to her neck and an unfamiliar naked man running from the room.

Another time, he said Combs summoned him to his office to show him video he’d recorded at a party of James dancing wildly and told him: “OK. I’m going to keep this footage in case I ever need it.” James said he took it as a threat to keep him in line.

Cassie testified last week that Combs threatened to release videos of her having sex with male sex workers during so-called freak-offs Combs orchestrated if she didn’t do as he said.

James also described being required to take lie detector tests twice when Combs was trying to find out who stole cash in one instance and a watch in another.

He said Combs was on drugs nearly every day, often taking Percocet by day and ecstasy by night. When he stocked Combs’ hotel rooms, he said, drugs were in a bag dropped off by security, including the pill meant to look like then-President Obama.

The moment when James saw the three guns on Combs’ lap came when he testified that he was involved in Combs’ attempt to confront his music industry rival Suge Knight at a Los Angeles diner in November 2008 — an incident that Cassie also testified about. He said he quit soon afterward.

“I was real shook up by it,” James testified. “This was the first time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that I realized my life was in danger.”

Before Tuesday’s lunch break, Sharay Hayes, an exotic dancer known as “The Punisher,” testified that Combs and Cassie brought him into the freak-offs world. He said a woman — Cassie using a pseudonym — called and told him it was her birthday and that her husband said she should hire a dancer.

Hayes said he arrived at a Manhattan hotel room expecting to perform a striptease for a small group of people but instead found the woman who hired him — whom he later found out was Cassie — alone with an otherwise naked man who hid his face with a burqa-like cloth. That man, he said, turned out to be Combs.

Hayes recalled seeing bottles of baby oil in bowls of water and getting handed a stack of $800 in cash. Later, after Combs watched him have a sexual encounter with Cassie, he said he was handed an additional $1,200. He said he was a fan of Combs but didn’t realize it was him in the room until a subsequent encounter at another hotel where the message on the TV screen said: “Essex House would like to welcome Mr. Sean Combs.”

Sisak and Neumeister write for the Associated Press.

KRISPY Kreme has delighted its fans by bring a sought-after flavour to the UK.

The American doughnut brand was hounded by its UK customers to introduce the Pistachio Overload flavour that had already hit stores in Australia.

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Krispy Kreme told The Sun that “Brits begged the brand to bring the new flavour to the UK after seeing the delicious nutty treat go viral in Australia last month.”

Not only has Krispy Kreme brought the flavour from Australia to the UK, it teamed up with a British company to produce the yummy taste.

The Pistachio Overload doughnut officially made it into stores on Monday (May 12), but was available at Krispy Kremes in Manchester a day earlier.

That was due to the fact Krispy Kreme had teamed up with the Mancunian brand, Blackmilk, to create the iconic dessert.

Blackmilk’s beloved Pistachio Cream spread is being used in the baking of the new doughnut flavour.

The green delight is topped with the Blackmilk cream, a white chocolate drizzle and candied pistachio nibs, while Krispy Kreme’s trademarked pistachio cream fills the doughnut.

Krispy Kreme confirmed to The Sun that Pistachio Overload will be available for £3.49 in all UK and Ireland stores until May 25.

It will land in Tesco UK branches on May 19 until May 25.

Krispy Kreme announced the doughnut’s arrival on social media and said it hoped the news would make up for the April Fools’ joke it had played on its followers.

On April 1, the brand posted a “message” from its managing director saying that after 87 years, it would be discontinuing its famous glazed doughnut.

The joke letter said the decision had been made in order to create space for the reintroduced, raspberry glazed doughnut.

The jam-filled treat was first discontinued in November 2024, causing a stir among sweet-toothed customers.

Even Alison Hammond begged the brand not to axe her favourite flavour on ITV’s This Morning.

The flavour is back by popular demand thanks to a nationwide public vote – dubbed “The Great Doughbate”.

This poll took place in Krispy Kreme shops and across social media between March 17 and 23.

Fans were given the opportunity to decide which discontinued favourite flavour to bring back.

The Glazed Raspberry was pitted against another fan favourite, Chocolate Custard.

However, the fruity flavour won out with the British public, receiving 66% of the total votes.

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