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IN the summer of 1970, Tom Petty met one of his future Heartbreakers – and made a friend for life. 

He was 19 when he invited guitarist Mike Campbell, then 20, to join his band Mudcrutch, named after the rundown Florida farm where they practised. 

“Tom was instantly unforgettable,” says Campbell today. “Of course, he had the long blond hair but he also had a swagger. 

“He had this vibe around him of knowing where he was going — and he was smarter than anybody else in the room.”

The pair hit it off from the get-go, resulting in Campbell being by Petty’s side throughout his career — playing lead guitar in The Heartbreakers, joining Tom on his solo albums and taking part in the Mudcrutch revival in 2007. 

“We immediately connected as musicians,” continues Campbell. “We had a similar dream — not to be rock stars, just to be professional and successful. 

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“The whole rock star thing came later. Tom lived at home [with his parents Earl and Kitty] and was a hippie dude like me.” 

The first incarnation of Mudcrutch “paid their dues” in Petty’s hometown of Gainesville, Florida, known for its vast university campus. 

Campbell recalls: “I’d come down from Jacksonville and was pretty much homeless. I was sleeping on couches and giving guitar lessons. It was a meagre existence.” 

Things began to fall into place when he hooked up with two Toms — Tom Petty and Tom Leadon (brother of Eagles’ guitarist Bernie) — and drummer Randall Marsh to form Mudcrutch. 

He says: “Gainesville was a great place to be. There was a thriving artistic community around the university, lots of parks for us to play for free and little bars to play in around town.  

“We even got a gig in a topless bar for a while but it kept us in money for a few months. 

“We mostly played covers but Tom was beginning to write and I was dabbling around with ideas.” 

I ask Campbell what kind of music and which artists were his and Petty’s chief inspirations.  

“Florida was a hotbed for all kinds of music, from blues and country to rock ’n’ roll,” he replies. 

“But the strongest influence on both of us was the whole British Invasion — The Beatles, the Stones, The Kinks, The Animals.  

“We would draw on them our whole lives.” 

I’m speaking to Campbell, 76, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the band that Mudcrutch eventually morphed into, all-American icons Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. 

Campbell is in Memphis, Tennessee, for the last stop on his tour with his post-Heartbreakers band, The Dirty Knobs.  

He notes that he is in the music-loving Southern city where Elvis Presley started out at Sam Phillips’ Sun Records. 

“The tour is coming to a close and everybody has picked up the flu,” he sighs when we’re connected via video call from his hotel room.  

“Sorry if I sound a little under the weather but I’ll be OK.” 

The main hook for our chat is a new boxset documenting the earliest recorded forays of Mudcrutch, Petty’s solo excursions as he searched for his direct yet melodic sound, his first two albums with The Heartbreakers, an incendiary 1977 Heartbreakers gig and footage from BBC Two’s cult late-night show, The Old Grey Whistle Test. 

It is nine years since Petty’s death, aged 66, from an accidental overdose of prescription meds a week after his final show with The Heartbreakers, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.  

Campbell is still coming to terms with his loss. Before returning to memories of their early years together, he reflects on the man he was proud to call his “best friend”. 

“It was like losing your right arm,” he affirms. “Very hard — and a surprise — and I’m still grieving. 

“Tom and I were close, not necessarily to hang out all the time, but our musical and spiritual connection was about as strong as anybody can have.” 

When touring with The Dirty Knobs, Campbell makes sure to include Heartbreakers songs in the set, featuring some of his co-writes with Petty such as Runnin’ Down The Dream and You Got Lucky. 

“I can’t believe it’s nine years,” he says. “But, as time goes on, I’ve dealt with the grief better. 

“I like to perform Heartbreakers songs to keep them alive, to remember and revisit my time with Tom.  

“It is bittersweet but there are moments when I feel his spirit. He’s right behind me, saying, ‘Go man, go!’ ” 

Campbell concludes: “You might never get over the loss of your brother or your father or your mother or your best friend but you learn to cope. That’s what grief is. 

“Memories seem to have a life of their own and I have very good memories. I treasure them.” 

This is a cue for more of Campbell’s precious recollections of the Seventies, beginning with Mudcrutch’s first attempts at recording.  

On the first disc of the new boxset, No Sleep Till LA, there is an unpolished but promising song from 1971 called Up In Mississippi Tonight — a self-financed single — and later efforts including Depot Street and Wild Eyes. 

So what does Campbell make of those initial studio forays all these years later? 

“I hear immaturity and I don’t hear any big hit singles,” he decides. “But I do hear dedicated dudes trying to learn their craft. 

“We drove down to Miami to cut a couple of demos and were intimidated because we only knew how to play live. 

“We were ducks out of water so it was quite an education. 

“The looseness of it all is shocking to me now but you sense the germ of something special is about to show itself.” 

Their chastening early studio endeavours meant that Petty, Campbell and the rest of Mudcrutch decided they needed “to get smarter and get out of Gainesville”. 

By this time, another future Heartbreaker, keyboardist Benmont Tench, had joined the fold, bringing an extra level of sophistication to the group’s music. 

Campbell says: “We had done everything we could do as a local band. We had played everywhere, we had a following, but there was nowhere else to go.  

“So we thought either New York or LA was our best shot at getting into the rat race.” 

He adds that they chose the West Coast because “we already had a friend in Bernie Leadon, who came back to Florida and said, ‘It’s all going on in LA — record companies and musicians everywhere’. 

“He encouraged us to get our asses out there, take our hard knocks, and get into it.” 

Mudcrutch arrived in LA in 1974 but things didn’t go well. Although famed musician Leon Russell signed them to Shelter Records, their first single, Depot Street, flopped and they were dropped soon afterwards. 

Petty, however, still had a solo deal with Shelter and his next efforts are represented on the No Sleep Till LA disc by a gorgeous acoustic demo, Unheard Kind Of Hero. 

Campbell remembers the period like this: “After a couple of years of Mudcrutch struggle and the band falling apart, then Tom trying to go solo, The Heartbreakers showed up like magic one night — and boom!” 

He explains: “Benmont had put together a demo session [in 1976] to work on songs and he called us all down. 

“It was as if a light went on — this is who we are, this is what we do. 

“Tom immediately said he was fed up with trying to make a solo record. He wanted to be in a band and said, ‘I’ve still got a deal and this is my band!’ ” It consisted of Petty, Campbell, Tench and new recruits Stan Lynch on drums and Ron Blair on bass.  

“And we started that first Heartbreakers record almost overnight,” continues Campbell. 

As for calling themselves Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, he says: “I never had any issues with that. Tom was a great leader and frontman.” 

Producer Denny Cordell gave them “unlimited studio time and nice equipment” and soon songs flowed thick and fast. 

“They just started exploding out of Tom like they were waiting for an outlet,” says Campbell. “He’d come in and say, ‘Oh, I’ve got a song, it’s called Breakdown. And here’s another called I Need To Know’.” 

The self-titled debut album kicks off in thrilling fashion with Petty/Campbell’s Rockin’ Around (With You). 

“I wasn’t even trying to write a song,” says the guitarist. “I was sitting in the studio playing the riff and Tom walked by and goes, ‘What’s that?’  

“He took it home and came back the next day with Rockin’ Around (With You). But the real lightbulb moment was on the 4th of July, 1976, when we recorded American Girl.” 

Campbell watched Petty demo the first Heartbreakers stone-cold classic on acoustic guitar and decided it would benefit from a 12-string.  

“But we couldn’t afford a 12-string so I tried to emulate it with my six-string by playing octaves,” he says. 

“When we finished that song, we realised something had happened. We had found our sound — and nobody else sounded like that.  

“From then on, it was smooth sailing. Tom was finding his persona and his voice. He was getting confident and he was proud of the band.” 

The self-titled debut album, released on November 9, 1976, failed to make an impact in the States but, as Campbell points out: “The British press loved us. They thought we were a punk band.” 

A brief UK tour in May and June, 1977, brings back fond memories for Campbell. 

He says: “Our first show was in Cardiff supporting Nils Lofgren. We drove there in a little bread truck, facing each other on wooden benches. 

“For the last song, Tom and I were running around in circles and got our guitar cords tangled up. We were literally hog-tied to each other and everyone was laughing. 

“After that it was Heartbreaker mania for a while. We played places like Stoke-on-Trent, Sheffield, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds.” 

On returning to the States, the Heartbreakers set about trying to break through. 

“But we couldn’t get arrested,” laughs Campbell. “The first album came and went so it was back to the grind. The second [1978’s You’re Gonna Get It!] picked up a little traction with songs Listen To Her Heart and I Need To Know but the response was still pretty meagre.  

“We were opening for Bob Seger if we were lucky or the J. Geils Band, going from city to city in a minivan.”  

Everything changed with the fabulous third album, Damn The Torpedoes (1979), which reached No2 on the Billboard charts despite what Campbell calls “a difficult birth”. 

It opened with two of his co-writes, Refugee and Here Comes My Girl, but the story behind that album is for another time. 

Before I let him go, I ask Campbell about playing not just with Petty but many great artists during his career. 

“I feel like the luckiest guy in the world,” he says. “My path has landed me in the presence of my heroes — and they always tripped me out.  

“I’d think, ‘Wow, I’m just this little kid from Florida and there’s George Harrison or Bob Dylan or Roy Orbison or Johnny Cash. How did I get here?’  

“People like that can overwhelm you. You get a gush of confusion but it soon settles down.” 

As for Petty, it was never like that. He just wanted to be one of the boys. 

Campbell says: “Tom could have gone solo and could have been like Rod Stewart or whoever but he grew up in a band and he wanted to keep it that way. 

“It’s why we stayed together for so long. I always liked that about him.” 

On a personal note, he adds: “If Tom was working on a record, he could always look at me and say, ‘Should I go this way or that?’ 

“He trusted me and we loved each other.” 

TOM PETTY AND THE HEARTBREAKERS 

Origins 1971- 1978 

★★★★★

As Star Trek captain Jean-Luc Picard and X-Men leader Professor Charles Xavier, he was the epitome of calm leadership under pressure.

But actor Sir Patrick Stewart, who has passed away aged 86 after a secret health battle with Alzheimer’s, spent his life fighting his own personal demons, coming to terms with his abusive childhood.

His father Alf was one of the last men evacuated from Dunkirk and then parachuted into Italy to fight in the brutal Battle of Monte Cassino where 54,000 Allied troops were killed or injured.

Back home in Mirfield, Huddersfield, he subjected the seven-year-old’s mother to brutal beatings.

Often, the young child would stand between his father’s fists and his mother in a desperate attempt to shield her.

“As a child I witnessed his repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him,” he said. “If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down.

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“For those who struggle to comprehend these feelings in a child, imagine living in an environment of emotional unpredictability, danger and humiliation week after week, year after year, from the age of seven.

“My childish instinct was to protect my mother, but the man hurting her was my father, whom I respected, admired and feared.”

It was on stage where he found a way to break free from his home life and forge his own path.

“I managed to find my own refuge in acting,” he said. “The stage was a far safer place for me than anything I had to live through at home – it offered escape.

“I could be someone else, in another place, in another time.

“However, whenever the role called for anger, fury, or the expression of murderous impulses, I was always afraid of what I might unleash if I surrendered myself to those feelings.”

Born on July 13, 1940, in Mirfield, near Huddersfield, life was bliss until his father Alf returned home from war with what would now be called post-traumatic stress disorder.

He said: ”My parents’ bedroom had a partition built into it, which is where my old brother Trevor and I slept. No hot water, no cooking facilities, no toilet, bathroom. Just an open fire and a gas ring.

“I’d never known anything else.”

Reflecting the violence at home, Stewart’s own anger was close to the surface and he struggled to contain it at school.

He said: “I was beaten with a cane by my headmaster when I was 14, when I was innocent of what he was accusing me of.

“It was one of the hardest moments ever, because I wanted to attack him. I would have killed him.

“If I’d actually got my hands on him, I don’t think he’d have made it out.”

His salvation came in the form of English teacher Cecil Dormand who put a copy of Shakespeare in his hands and encouraged him to perform.

It was the Mirfield Secondary Modern School drama club that gave him a glimpse of something beyond the confines of his terraced home and violent abuse.

He said: “The first moment that I walked onto the school stage I felt safe — it was the safest place I’d ever been.

“For one thing I wasn’t Patrick Stewart because I didn’t like Patrick Stewart very much.

“And it was a different world, it wasn’t my world — because I didn’t like that very much either.”

He got another dreaded summons to his headmaster’s office. But this time instead of a caning he saw Mr Dormand and someone from the West Riding County Council who offered him an eight-day residential drama course.

It was there he met a young Brian Blessed, who he would later perform with in the classic TV drama I, Claudius.

Years later they bumped into each other together at a glitzy awards ceremony in Los Angeles:

“There we were: two working-class boys from Yorkshire, walking down the red carpet.”

He left school at 15 and got a job as a junior reporter on his local paper the Mirfield & District while dedicating every moment to acting, much to the annoyance of his editor.

He said: “There were about a dozen amateur dramatic societies in my community. Every church, every chapel had one — even if it only meant doing a pantomime once a year.

“The editor eventually said ‘You’ve got to give it all up, this acting business, and learn to be a journalist. If you don’t, you can get off my paper.’

“So I went upstairs, packed up my typewriter and left.”

He got a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and in 1966 joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, a relationship that would last for nearly three decades.

He went on to win two supporting actor Olivier Awards for his Shakespeare performances, for Antony and Cleopatra in 1979 and Hamlet in 2009.

He was awarded a knighthood for services to drama in 2009 and was knighted by the late Queen in 2010.

The stage was his true love despite one appearance on Coronation Street in 1966 and playing John Le Carre’s Russian spy Karla in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People.

But in 1987 he was tempted by what he thought would be a quick Hollywood cash grab and be back home on the stage in a few months.

But Star Trek: The Next Generation became a global smash and his cultured, thoughtful Picard became an iconic role.

The sci-fi TV series ran for seven years, with Sir Patrick starring in Star Trek Generations in 1994, Star Trek: First Contact in 1996 and Star Trek: Insurrection in 1998 and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).

He said: “I was contemptuous. I knew of the original Star Trek, of course… I thought, ‘This is not what I do. I’m a classical actor.’

“I thought I’d just go to California for a year, get a tan and earn some money.

“I came to love Jean-Luc Picard and to admire him, and he has had an effect on me. Some of his qualities, I believe, have rubbed off on me.

“The sense of responsibility, the sense of duty, the determination that you will not be compromised.”

In 2000, he was cast as powerful telepath Professor Charles Xavier in the film adaptation of Marvel‘s X-Men comics.

He would come back to the series in 2014’s X-Men: Days Of Future Past, 2017’s Logan, 2022’s Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness and 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.

Again, his thoughtful, nurturing persona and his rivalry with old friend Sir Ian McKellen’s Magneto became cinema legend.

He said: “I love him deeply. So does my wife. He married us — he performed the ceremony in a Mexican restaurant.”

Singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell was Stewart’s third wife and eyebrows were raised at their 38-year age gap.

He had two children, Daniel, 59, and Sophie, 54, with his first wife Sheila Falconer who he married in 1966 and divorced 24 years later.

He was briefly married to producer Wendy Neuss in 2000 then he met and married Sunny in 2013.

The couples’ fun Instagram posts of the Shakespearean actor in hilarious situations, like being dressed as a lobster, burst his rather serious Shakespearean public face.

Making home in Los Angeles, where he watched every game of his beloved Huddersfield Town, he started having weekly therapy sessions to deal with his traumatic childhood.

Stewart said: “It wasn’t until I came to California and people would say, ‘You’re not in therapy? Let me recommend somebody.’ I was introduced to a brilliant woman with whom I did therapy weekly for about six years.

“It was thanks to her that all this stuff came out and I realised that acting was an escape for me.”

In 2006 a routine check up discovered an 85 per cent blockage in his heart and he underwent emergency surgery to fix it by having a stent inserted.

He said: “I was diagnosed very unexpectedly during my annual physical by my cardiologist, who said ‘What are you doing this afternoon?’

“To which I said ‘Well actually, I’m going for lunch.’ And he said, ‘I’d rather you didn’t.’

“And in five minutes I was on a gurney giving details of my next of kin and so it was rather dramatic.

“I didn’t have time to brood on it, but what I did know was that I was in the best possible hands I could’ve been in and I was going to be taken care of whatever the outcome.

His mother Gladys died in 1977, three years before Alfred. After turning 80 in 2020 and with the pandemic and lockdown in full swing he began to think about his own mortality.

He said: “When my father was living alone, I believe he missed her badly.

“And perhaps he might even have regretted aspects of their married life.

“I was already older than both my parents when they died, but I think it was the coronavirus. It did something to me.

“It made me feel so vulnerable.”

In a final video posted on Instagram before his death, Sir Patrick reflected on love and the emotions evoked by his performances of Shakespeare’s sonnets.

He said: “I hope it has brought pleasure and curiosity but more than anything else I want it to have communicated all the multiple features that love might have.”

“WE’RE able to save the foot.”

That is what Kings Of Leon frontman Caleb Followill heard a doctor tell his wife after a freak accident at home.

“My kids wanted to play tag because they didn’t want to go to bed,” he recalls.

“I went to hurdle the couch, and when I did, my back foot caught it. So, I threw my legs underneath me to try to stick the landing, and it was just heels first.

“I was losing blood and there was a moment where they thought they might have to take my foot.

“They [the medics] said they’d only ever seen an injury like this when a man had fallen off a five-storey building.”

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In a video call with Caleb and his cousin, guitarist Matthew Followill, from their Nashville homes, the singer reveals: “The heel of my foot was in the middle of my foot, so it was like there was a massive lump in the middle.”

With the band then just weeks away from their 2025 UK and European tour, Matt initially thought Caleb was exaggerating the extent of his injury.

“He sent this text and I thought it was a joke,” says Matt.

“He was, like, ‘Guys, I hurt my foot really bad. We might not be able to go on tour’. And I was, like, ‘Yeah, right. How could you hurt your foot so badly?’ But the X-rays are pretty gnarly.”

What began as a nightmare would, however, become the inspiration for the band’s most personal, stripped-back album yet.

O My Beloved is the Nashville group’s tenth studio album and it sees them reflecting on family, love and loss.

Caleb admits: “I was going through a lot and had to mentally be strong.

“I couldn’t sleep at night. I would have panic attack after panic attack. I was so depressed, so helpless . . . 

“When you’re the man of the house and everyone’s taking care of you, it’s a bad feeling.”

But as he recovered at home with his wife, model Lily Aldridge, and their kids Dixie, 14, and seven-year-old Winston, Caleb picked up his guitar and found himself writing songs unlike anything the band had released before.

“I feel like my relationship with my children took a whole new step,” he says.

“The first song that came was My Whole World. As soon as the rhythm started, I began singing, and the words just very naturally came out.

“It was very therapeutic. And the songs that followed had a similar feel.” After that, the band scrapped the four or five guitar-driven songs they had been working on to embrace a quieter, more acoustic sound.

“I remember a couple of times during the demo process, I pulled my truck over to the side of the road and had tears in my eyes,” Caleb recalls. “I was, like, ‘Man, it feels so different’.

“It was kind of a miracle, in a way. It was something that needed to happen to stop the cycle of tour, then make an album and repeat.”

Matt adds: “This album is a way to turn something terrible into something positive.

“Now we’ve made this album, when you think about that time at home, it has a different meaning. And with it being our tenth album, we wanted to do something different.”

The enforced break also gave Caleb time to reflect on more than 25 years of Kings Of Leon.

“It was the first time since we started that I’ve ever really looked at what we’ve accomplished,” he admits.

“Instead of looking at the workload ahead, it was kind of looking back and going, ‘Whoa, 25 years, we’ve done more than we ever dreamed we would do’.

“It was a really beautiful time of reflection.”

For years, Matt, Caleb and his brothers — drummer Nathan and bassist Jared — wanted to be recognised for their music rather than family connections.

“For so long, we were tired of talking about being family,” Matt says. “We were, like, ‘No, we’re a band, just see us as a band’. But with this music, it’s all about family, and I guess it was time to quit avoiding talking about it.”

Caleb and his brothers spent much of their childhood travelling through Tennessee, Oklahoma and the South with their father, a Pentecostal preacher, often sleeping in cars or staying with relatives.

“It was the little moments that inspired the songs,” says Caleb. “Like small conversations with my uncle Larry or moments at our family reunions.

“We didn’t have, excuse my language, a pot to piss in, but we had love and each other and we created beautiful memories.

“We grew up poor, and that was always our thing. You know, ‘One day our ship’s going to come in’.

“One day, my older brother Nathan said, ‘I think our ship is the Titanic’, because it felt like our ship was never coming in.”

The family saying inspired a lyric in My Whole World when the siblings were excited about a forthcoming family cruise.

Caleb explains: “A picture of the ship said ‘29 days ’til . . . ’ so I wrote ‘29 days ’til our ship comes in. We’ll be together again’.” Matt adds: “I also love that that’s something your mum used to say.”

And memories of Caleb’s mum Betty Ann, who died in 2021, are woven into the new album.

“When I had messed up and everyone was mad at me, I could always call her,” Caleb explains.

“When you lose that person, it forces you to kind of really take ownership of who you are. For the first time, it’s ‘Oh, man, I’m the grown-up’.

“I didn’t really deal with the grief or loss, and this was the first time I was able to do it in a way that didn’t feel like I was whining about it,” Caleb admits.

“Sometimes I think, ‘Oh, man, she would love this’, or, ‘She would be proud of this’, and then I’m like, ‘No, she does love this and she is proud of it’.”

The freedom of childhood also runs through KOYSAR (Kick Off Your Shoes And Run) — a song Caleb wrote for his daughter about growing up in the age of social media.

Pretty Thing is a poignant story inspired by the old country songs Caleb grew up listening to.

He says: “It’s not autobiographical as we didn’t have that traditional high-school experience. It was the forbidden fruit.

“And I always admired songs about first love in high school — that glamorous football player with the cheerleader.

“As I got deeper into writing it, it felt like more than a break-up, like, ‘Maybe this man died, and so he’s watching her move on with her life. Every time I play that song for my wife, she cries.”

Other standouts include The Hand and Rose — which Matt cites as his favourites — while Caleb singles out Get You Down for its emotional depth.

O My Beloved is a stunning album, with its delicate, quieter sound allowing the band’s musicianship to shine.

Matt says: “We wanted everything to have a purpose, and not to have extra stuff muddying up the mixes. We tried to have clear sounds and a clear vision.”

“Us producing the album ourselves was a real opportunity for us to really home in on sounds,” Caleb adds. “We wanted to let the songs shine.”

As we chat about his lyrics, I’m surprised to hear Caleb admit he still struggles with insecurity over his songwriting.

He says: “I’m self-conscious about lyrics. For the most part, I’m so scared for anyone to hear anything.

“I never used to enjoy playing shows. But over the last five years, I love walking out on stage and am no longer scared.”

Matt continues: “Being in Kings Of Leon is hands-down better than it’s ever been for us, for touring and just being together.

“For some of the time, it wasn’t fun but now we look forward to getting together.”

The band return to the UK next month for a one-off show at the new British Airways ARC before headlining next summer’s Isle of Wight and Lytham festivals and playing a string of shows across the country.

Caleb admits they are still working out how to fit the new songs into their live performances.

“It’d be hard to put those songs in between Spiral Staircase and Sex On Fire,” he says. “You have to let them breathe and have their own little moment.”

And after a recent performance in Texas, he is keen to include strings in future shows.

“We had a big, beautiful string section with us, and it was pretty magical and maybe we want to grow that,” he says.

Britain has always held a special place in the band’s hearts, with fans here embracing them long before they found success back home in America.

“They were there first, and they have never left,” says Caleb. “Loyalty matters to us.”

Matt adds: “My wife is English, and she says that if you make a fan in Britain, you pretty much make a fan for life.”

London also brings back memories of the band’s wild early days. “When we’d be in London, we’d go crazy,” says Caleb. “We’d do interviews and get drunk before. Like, ‘No one’s going to see this. Who cares?!’”

A lot of the more memorable moments involved fights, too. “One time, me and Nathan ended up in a Koi pond,” Caleb laughs. I had hit him over the head with a frying pan. It’s a true story.”

Both he and Matt are relieved social media wasn’t around then to capture their antics.

“We probably just would never have gone to those clubs because we’d be on Instagram or TikTok the next day,” laughs Matt.

“It was, like, ‘Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’,” adds Caleb. “We were just small-town guys let loose. And, thank God, we survived.

“There were a lot of crazy memories — a lot of moments that just didn’t feel real at the time.

“I’ll never forget when we walked on stage at Glastonbury [in 2008], when we got to headline it.

“Years ago, a man grabbed me by the hand, and said, ‘You will be in front of multitudes’. It scared me because I didn’t know what he meant by that.

“When we walked out on stage at Glastonbury, it was the first time it hit me that that was what he was talking about.”

Almost two decades after that unforgettable show, Caleb and Matt are enjoying being in Kings Of Leon more than ever.

“It really feels like we made our first album again,” Caleb says. “Producing it ourselves to the way that we wrote the songs, the instrumentation . . . it really felt like we were doing something for the first time.

“Most bands don’t ever get to make a first album. They certainly don’t get to make it twice.

“It feels like the beginning of something. I don’t know what that is, but I’m enjoying it.”

• O My Beloved is out next Friday.

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O My Beloved

BRAD PITT has revealed he was forced to rely on close friends for support during the lowest points of his bitter divorce from Angelina Jolie.

After 12 years together, the actress accused him of physical and verbal abuse while on a private jet with their six children in September 2016.

He denied the allegations and the FBI brought no charges, but a gruelling £300million, eight-year divorce battle followed.

Brad said: “When I think of the darker days, it was certainly my close relationships that I relied heavily on. Friends, dear close friends — a handful — close family, and was very open about my struggle.

“And being able to be that free with people who love you and have your back, and that you love back, is everything. It’s everything.”

Since working on his new movie, survival thriller Heart Of The Beast, Brad has realised just how he got through the losses and pain with the help of some of his A-list pals, including George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Leonardo DiCaprio and Matt Damon.

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In the film Brad plays a retired Special Forces veteran navigating a gruelling 60-mile trek through the Alaskan wilderness with his traumatised combat dog, Odin, after their seaplane crashes.

And it was the survival experts Brad worked with that truly opened his eyes to what he’d been through.

In a new interview from the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain, Brad, 62, said: “The survivalists would tell us it’s all about little wins.

“You’re going to suffer losses, you’re going to suffer pain, but it’s just getting to the next little win.

“I thought that equated to life in that way, in the sense of when we are struggling and going through many challenges, just getting to that next little win, not thinking about the big picture, just that next little win.”

There have been plenty of wins in Brad’s career, including two Academy Awards, but his personal life has been marked by significant challenges.

After falling for Angelina on the set of action comedy Mr & Mrs Smith in 2004, he divorced actress Jennifer Aniston the following year.

The pair became known as “Brangelina” and married in front of their kids — Maddox, now 25, Pax, 22, Zahara, 21, Shiloh, 20, and 18-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox — in August 2014.

But two years later, following the heated row on a flight from their £45million Chateau Miraval in France to LA, Angelina filed for divorce.

No charges were filed by the FBI and the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services closed their investigation with no finding of abuse.

In the aftermath, Brad gave up drinking for seven years, began therapy and attended Alcoholics Anonymous. He also leaned on those aforementioned friends, as well as ex-wife Jennifer.

Despite their split after four-and-a-half years of marriage, the pair were able to rebuild their friendship after Brad’s split from Angelina.

But his drawn-out divorce with the Maleficent actress, which was only settled in December 2024, caused a rift with his children.

Last month, his daughter Zahara followed in the footsteps of her siblings Shiloh and Maddox in legally dropping Pitt from her surname.

Vivienne has also filed to change her name, with the court hearing set for next month.

While Brad has declined to comment on the news, he appears to be in a good place after finding love with Ines de Ramon.

He was first linked to the 33-year-old jewellery exec in late 2022, when they were spotted at a concert.

By February 2024, Ines had moved into Brad’s California mansion and they were “happier than ever”.

And this summer, the couple were spotted attending Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s New York wedding.

Ines also accompanied Brad to the premiere of Heart Of The Beast in Nashville last month.

He says one of the greatest things about his new movie was starring alongside six-year-old German Shepherd, Uber.

Brad and the former search and rescue dog, who plays Odin, were given just three weeks to get to know each other before filming.

The actor would sit in Uber’s large kennel answering emails and making calls so the dog would get used to having him around.

Brad, who owns three dogs (Jacques, Blackout Superstar and a recent unnamed rescue), laughed: “Listen, spending a day with the dog just makes things a little better. It wasn’t without its complications. You know, there were days that amazed us.”

Despite being set in Alaska, the movie was shot on New Zealand’s South Island in 45 days.

For more adventurous scenes involving stunts, Odin was played by one of Uber’s three sons, but Brad primarily filmed with Uber.

He said: “We had a short time to shoot this film. We decided a plan of attack — whatever the dog does, we’re going to follow it. So some days, it was just incredible. I did have a really moving experience with Uber, we bonded quickly. We tried to make every day a play day for him.

“There were times he would do things that were just amazing that were not in the script.

“At the same time, there were days when the bees are buzzing and possums are coming down the hill, and things are just much more interesting in the woods than what’s going on here for my co-star.

“I had to be pretty adept at being actor-dog trainer-actor-dog-trainer in the middle of the scene. Thank God for editing!”

Brad’s secret weapon was boiled chicken, Uber’s favourite treat.

The star, who rescued a stray greyhound-mix while filming Seven Years In Tibet in Argentina in 1996, joked: “I can’t smell boiled chicken to this day. That was his favourite.”

While New Zealand’s glaciers, lakes and mountains provided a stunning backdrop, filming in such a rugged location had its drawbacks.

Brad and the crew had to spend 12-hour days outside in the wet and cold, with no heated trailers to rest in.

The actor would sit on logs between takes alongside Uber, who Brad insists is the real star.

He said: “He was pretty cool. He was first on the call sheet. He was priority number one, but he was pretty cool all the way through.

“Working with a dog was really kind of beautiful, it was kind of wonderful. And surprisingly easier than you would think.”

The presence of dogs on set brought welcome relief to an otherwise emotionally intense shoot.

Brad said: “Every day was fun. We tried to do the same thing. We’d roll up on set at six in the morning, and there is one of our dog whisperers just playing catch with Uber.

“It was just such a beautiful sight in the field.”

The story at the heart of the movie — of a man relying on the bond with his dog to get through his darkest days — left Brad with a broader message.

He said: “Yes, it’s a survival story, but ultimately it’s a love story.

“I think we could spend more time looking at where we are the same  — what binds us? What connects us?

“Then I think we could listen better through these divisional lines. But maybe just start taking care of the people around us and making sure they’re OK.

“And if everyone did that, I’d say that’s a good place to start.”

THEY scored a resounding victory for farmers everywhere when they won Britain’s Got Talent this year.

And now the Hawkstone ­Farmers Choir want to follow their success with a place on the Glastonbury main stage — and are calling for Emily Eavis to sign them up for next year.

In an exclusive interview with The Sun, one of the choir’s leaders, Katryna Shell, told how the group have their sights set on the famous festival, saying: “Our dream is to play the main stage at Worthy Farm. We’re farmers, so it’s kind of meant to be, isn’t it?

“But we haven’t had the call yet. So Emily, if you’re reading this, we’re open, we’re here, we’re listening.”

There’s no doubt that the 32-strong choir would be right at home in the Glastonbury mud and puddles.

The singers — all of whom are working farmers in their day jobs — were brought together by Sun ­columnist Jeremy Clarkson last year when he put out a casting call for a group to sing the expletive-heavy lyrics of a song for his ­Hawkstone beer advert.

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But he could never have predicted the unlikely bunch of livestock and arable experts would go on to the final of the ITV talent show, where he cheered them on from the front row as they were declared winners.

James Florey, from Witney, Oxon, said: “Jeremy is always there supporting us — the same with Kaleb Cooper and all of the Clarkson’s Farm team.

“It’s really nice knowing they’ve got our backs.

“Last week, we performed at the British Farming Awards and Jeremy made the time to come along, even though he had to leave straight afterwards.

“And when we ­finished, I saw Kaleb standing on a chair going wild.

“The fact that Jeremy came all the way down for the final — and I don’t think Britain’s Got Talent is necessarily his thing — was great.

“But he came and met us outside before we went on stage, to encourage us.

“He said, ‘I can’t believe what you guys have done and how far you’ve moved this, and the difference you are making to people’s lives.’

“But by backing us, he is also helping to get our supportive message out there, so it’s a collaborative effort.”

And it turned out the ex-Top Gear host was no less enthusiastic when it came to helping the choir celebrate their BGT win, as they revealed he sank pints with them and show judge Amanda Holden in a pub until 3am.

Katryna, from Alnwick, Northumberland, said: “How did we celebrate? We went to the pub with ­Jeremy and Amanda.

“That was a really good night — we were all out till 3am.

“And we hadn’t eaten before the final because we were so nervous.

“Then we won and I was feeling a bit jittery — it was all the excitement.

And it got to about ­mid- night and I was starving. ­Someone came in with a kebab, and it was all I could smell.

“So we left the party in search of the kebab shop, which was about five miles away, got a kebab and then came back.”

Since their win in May, the choir have been inundated with messages of support from fans both inside and outside of the farming community.

After the release of their debut ­single Absolution last month, their new album, This Is Home, follows on November 20 — and they have a UK tour beginning in March next year.

There is also the small matter of performing in front of royalty, when they take to the stage at the Royal Variety Performance next month.

But the members confirmed they won’t be undergoing a glow-up ahead of the big night and are happy to tread the boards of the Royal Albert Hall in wellies and jeans.

They also insist there is no chance of them letting fame go to their heads — because hours after rehearsing for a performance they could be back drilling crops or mucking out livestock.

“This is our glow-up,” said Katryna, gesturing to the group’s clean jeans and shirts.

“I auditioned for BGT in boots that smelled of manure. A guy interviewing me for a video was like, ‘What’s that smell?’”

She continued: “Someone asked me, ‘Do you think the fame will go to your head?’ And I said, ‘No, because every time I come away from whatever we’re doing, I’m thrown right back into farm life, mucking out ­livestock and so on.

“I’ve got three young children as well, so I’ll be looking after them.

“It is challenging and we’re all leaning on friends and family to keep everything working and safe, but we love what we do.”

Fellow farmer Ben Brooke, from March, in Cambridgeshire, said: “It has been hectic, juggling the choir and our normal day jobs. I’m an arable farmer, and I’m lucky as I have my dad in the business too, so he can step in while I’m away.

“At the moment, we are drilling the crops that will be harvested next summer.

“And then there’s running the ­people who work for us — we used to have 50 and now we have four.

“I’m trying to get involved as much as I can without going off singing all the time. That’s the main job.

“But is also so important for us to keep doing what we are doing, because it is bigger than us.

“Farming is inherently super- isolating, and it’s also quite an old-school industry, so no one seems to open up.

“For other farmers to see us having conversations and supporting each other goes a long way.

“We’ve had lots of people opening up to us online, sending us messages, and it’s important they know they are not alone. We want to have these conversations because we want to make a difference.”

James, who says he has struggled with mental health problems in the past, adds that for him joining the choir has been “like therapy”.

And he said it is more important to support farmers’ mental health now than ever before.

He went on: “It is a difficult time for farmers, and there is huge pressure because it is not the sort of industry you can just step away from and say, ‘Actually, you know what, this isn’t profitable at the momen’.

“There’s so much legacy and so much family history behind it. And people will often feel the pressure of that weighing down on them as well as all the financial burdens.

“You don’t want to be that generation that fails or lets things slide.

“Coming together as part of this group has been like therapy because everyone here understands what you are going through.

“And sharing some of our own ­stories and challenges has made ­others aware they are not alone.

“For me, this is one of the best things we’ve ever done, and you never know where it might lead. But hopefully it will be to the top of the charts.”

•  The Hawkstone Choir’s debut album This Is Home is out on November 20 and their UK tour begins in March next year.

“WE’D known each other for 60 bloody years. It was a hell of a shock.” 

Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi is still coming to terms with the loss of his brother in arms, Ozzy Osbourne. 

“The night before he passed, I was talking to him — and the next day he was gone,” says the affable guitarist in his soft Brummie tones. “God, that was strange.” 

As members of the hard-rocking trailblazers, Iommi became “The Godfather Of Heavy Metal” and Ozzy “The Prince Of Darkness”. 

They came from humble backgrounds with precious little cash but a combination of inspiration and perspiration carried them to phenomenal global success. 

Recalling their first gigs together in the late Sixties, Iommi says: “We could just about afford enough petrol to get us home in the van — and to share a bag of chips. 

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“It’s mad when you think about it, but I’m so proud of what we did because we stuck to what we believed in.” 

It was Iommi, the only ever-present member, who laid the foundation on which Sabbath — and a whole new genre of music — was built. 

His immense, doom-laden riffs adorned songs like Iron Man and Paranoid, providing a platform for Ozzy’s manic vocals and wild stage antics. The best part of six decades later, Sabbath are no more but Iommi is still creating vibrant new variations on his signature sound. 

He is releasing an album under his own name filled with some of those immense riffs, called From The Dark. 

He has done it by assembling an ace band including Norwegian singer Jorn Lande, who, with his flowing locks and beard, looks every inch a Viking marauder. 

In the words of the guitarist himself, “It rocks!” 

I find myself speaking to Iommi a few days after he had visited Windsor Castle to receive his MBE from Princess Anne. 

“I don’t know how she does it,” he says of the redoubtable royal. “She was really nice, professional and relaxed.” 

For Tony, it was official recognition of not only his guitar and songwriting heroics but also of his unstinting support for hospital charities in Birmingham. 

Having been treated for lymphoma in 2012, he says “it’s been lovely to give something back” to the health sector “because they work hard and were so good to me”.  

As our chat moves back to music matters, it’s clear that the events of last summer are still very much on his mind. 

On July 5, 2025, he and fellow Sabbath founders Geezer Butler (lyrics, bass) and Bill Ward (drums) joined ailing Ozzy for one last hurrah at Villa Park in their hometown. 

The momentous Back To The Beginning shindig featured a who’s who of hard rock royalty paying their respects — Metallica, Guns N’ Roses and Alice In Chains among them. 

Next Tuesday, a concert film opens in Birmingham cinemas, and the next day, it goes nationwide. 

A mere 16 days after that momentous show, Iommi phoned Ozzy for what turned out to be the last time. The next evening, on July 22, came the sad news that his bandmate had passed away aged 76. 

Describing the call, he says: “Ozzy was going, ‘I’m really tired. I just can’t seem to pull myself together’.  

“I said, ‘You’re bound to feel like that — it’s been a tough few weeks’.” Iommi adds that when Sabbath convened for the Back To The Beginning rehearsals, he wasn’t prepared for his bandmate’s declining health.. 

Poor Ozzy had been battling Parkinson’s as well as the effects of injuries caused by his quad bike accident in the UK and a fall at his LA mansion. 

Iommi says: “The last time I saw him was when we did the Commonwealth Games together (in 2022). I didn’t fully realise quite what he was going through. 

“When he was back in LA, we’d talk on the phone every other week but I didn’t get to physically see him. 

“He’d be telling me he had this pain here and that pain there — and I sort of took it with a pinch of salt. 

“I’d be saying to him, ‘Well, I’ve got a pain in my neck. I’m suffering, too’. That would be the extent of our bloody conversation!” 

Iommi recalls the moment he, Butler and Ward set eyes on Ozzy again: “We were all shocked — and it went very quiet in the room.” 

But thankfully their time rehearsing in an Oxfordshire studio proved to be a life-affirming chance to catch up and indulge in a trip down memory lane. 

Iommi says: “We sat down on the couch, the four of us, and we were having a laugh and taking the piss out of each other. 

“It felt like the old times, but then Ozzy would get tired and lose concentration.” By that stage, however, Black Sabbath were on course to perform four of their best-loved, bone-shaking numbers, War Pigs, N.I.B., Iron Man and Paranoid. 

It’s important to note that Iommi needed persuading to take part. He says: “When I was first asked to do the show, I said I didn’t want to do it.  

“We’d done a tour called The End in 2017 — and to me it was the end. 

“But then Bill (Ward) wasn’t on that tour and we hadn’t played with him for 20 years. Then they said the show was for charity, so I said, ‘Of course I’ll do it’.” 

When it came to finally appearing on stage, Iommi, Butler and Ward had to deal with a new dynamic — Ozzy stuck on a big black throne adorned with skulls and a huge bat. 

Iommi says: “It was really strange for myself, Geezer and Bill because we had Ozzy in front of us in that chair. 

“We couldn’t see him! In the past, we would watch him running around.” 

Despite that, the band played their socks off and gave their final bow after Paranoid had ended with a spectacular pyrotechnic display. 

Iommi continues: “When we came off, there was a big, chaotic backstage and I went to my dressing room and Ozzy to his. 

“But as Ozzy was leaving, they wheeled him into mine. He said he was so pleased we did it, that he’d even been able to do it and that he’d enjoyed it. 

“I thought he did an incredible job, given the state of his health.” 

If that night truly marked the end of Sabbath, Iommi had already been keeping his hand in by working on new music that is eventually appearing on From The Dark. 

There is also the not-so-small matter of the barnstorming first track on Robbie Williams’ latest album Britpop called Rocket, which Iommi co-wrote and played on. 

“That was something I never expected but really enjoyed,” he affirms. “It was so different for me to do that. 

“Robbie was great, asked a lot of questions — but he was always honourable and polite. 

“He actually asked me if I’d join him on stage when he played Birmingham but I was away at that time.” 

Iommi has another connection with Robbie in the shape of Karl Brazil, the singer’s studio and touring drummer. 

He plays on From The Dark along with bassist Becky Baldwin and the aforementioned singer Lande, who reminds Iommi of Sabbath’s other great vocalist aside from Ozzy, the late Ronnie James Dio. 

Recommended by Mike Exeter, co-producer of the album, Brazil turns in a powerhouse performance. 

“Karl’s a good player and he loves doing what he does,” says Iommi. “That’s the thing with this album — I wanted people who enjoy playing.” 

As for Lande, he worked with Iommi on sessions as far back as 2005, as well as a Ronnie James Dio tribute concert in 2010. 

“I liked Jorn’s voice and he is a nice person to get on with,” he says.  

“I had him in mind for a while so he was the obvious choice when I decided not to make an instrumental album but use a vocalist.” 

It was up to Lande to provide lyrics to songs such as the searing opener, Over The Violent Sun, and next track, Black Times, both informed by the dangerous times we live in. 

Iommi says: “When Jorn first sent me the lyrics, I was, like, ‘Blimey! This is what’s happening in the world, isn’t it?’  

“It reminded me of old Sabbath stuff like War Pigs, which was about the Vietnam War but could be about today. 

“I was happy for Jorn to do his own thing — and he came out with real power and feel.” 

This brings us to bassist Baldwin, who, like Iommi and Brazil, is from Birmingham. 

“Apart from Jorn, I wanted to keep things as local as I could. First, I asked Geezer if he wanted to play on the album but he was away so Mike (Exeter) suggested Becky.  

“The good thing is she’s a fan of Geezer. She’s got his playing style.” 

Iommi reports that Sabbath bassist and chief lyricist Butler has given his new album his seal of approval. 

“We always keep in touch and as soon as the single (World Alone) came out, Geezer emailed to say he really liked it.” 

The cinematic video for the song includes black-clad Iommi playing guitar against a backdrop of menacing black clouds. 

“To be honest, I don’t like being in videos,” he says.  

“I’m a guitar player, not an actor, and I always feel uncomfortable.” 

But he adds that the video makers were a “good bunch” and “great to work with”. 

“And all they wanted me to do was ‘just stand there and play’.” It’s fair to say that of all From The Dark’s ten tracks, World Alone has the most upbeat guitar passages. 

Iommi smiles and says: “When I started writing this album, the immediate thing for me to do was come up with a doomy riff.  

“Then I’d come up with another doomy riff, and another one — so I had to do something up-tempo to give it a break.” 

Rather than call on several of his high-profile musician mates from down the years, there’s just one special guest on From The Dark. 

He is Iommi’s close friend — Queen’s legendary guitarist, Sir Brian May, who applies an epic solo to standout track Death Wake. 

“Brian comes up to see me when he’s got time and we sit and play,” Iommi says. 

“When I told him about the album, he brought his guitar and played on Death Wake, which was really great. 

“After that, I said, ‘Play on another one’. Brian went, ‘Oh no, it’s your album and your solos are good!’” 

Iommi says he first met May more than 50 years ago “and we hit it off from day one”. 

“He’d be in a studio. When Freddie (Mercury) and everyone left and he was on his own, I’d go round to keep him company. 

“Then when I’d be doing some Sabbath stuff, Brian would come and sit with me.  

“It became a really good friendship.” 

So would they ever make an album together? I venture. 

“Do you know how many years we’ve spoken about that?” laughs Iommi.  

“Then, of course, he gets busy and I get busy. We’ve gone on and on about it for so long that it’s become a joke.” 

For now, metal fans the world over will have to make do with Iommi’s From The Dark, guest starring Brian May. 

It’s got plenty of those epic “doomy riffs” we’ve come to expect from The Godfather Of Heavy Metal. 

TONY IOMMI 

From The Dark 

★★★★☆

AN explosive sexting scandal almost wrecked Christian Horner’s marriage to pop royalty – and a year later, his F1 career was in tatters.

The multi-millionaire racing tycoon, married to ex-Spice Girl Geri Halliwell, was sacked by Red Bull with a £76million payoff after sending hundreds of texts to an attractive aide, pestering her for pics and sexy chat.

Geri was left heartbroken and humiliated by the WhatsApp messages, leaked in 2024 — a day after Horner was cleared of inappropriate, and controlling behaviour towards the woman in an independent probe.

Loyal Geri stood by her man, but Red Bull’s track performance took a hit amid the damning claims.

Now Horner, 52, has written an extraordinary new memoir, Drive, out on Thursday, which is essentially a grovelling, 320-page love letter to his wife of 11 years.

In it, he swerves the awkward reason his marriage nearly hit the skids.

Instead, he praises Geri for steering him through the darkest days of his life — while glossing over the aide who complained about his conduct.

The former Red Bull chief executive was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing, and his book does not link the embarrassing scandal to his sacking after 20 years in the top Formula One job.

Instead, he blames a series of poor results on the race track, and does not attempt to explain or justify why he sent the flirty messages.

Yet Horner DOES recall his wife heroically mustering every ounce of Girl Power as the crisis erupted.

Initially baffled by the allegations levelled against him, Horner writes: “What was going on?

“The lawyer, presumably aware that a wrecking ball was being aimed at my life, explained the situation as my sense of bewilderment rose.

“Geri knew by my face that something was very wrong.

“She fell silent as she listened. We both understood the implications immediately. She looked at me. ‘Just tell your truth’, she said.

“‘That’s all I can do’, I replied.

“She reassured me that everything would be all right.

“Her resilience was remarkable.

“Our lives had been turned upside down, yet she found the strength and conviction to support me through an immensely difficult period, one that was undoubtedly challenging for her as well.

“Her belief in me gave me the determination to move forward. At a time when my confidence was being tested, Geri provided the perspective and stability that I needed most.

“Without her support, I’m not sure I could have navigated those months in the same way.”

Days after Horner was cleared of behaving inappropriately in 2024, Red Bull suspended his accuser on full pay. The woman, who was not named, then agreed to leave Red Bull for a £3million settlement and dropped her claims.

She signed a non-disclosure agreement that prevents her from talking about the scandal.

Her appeal over the outcome of the probe into Horner was thrown out.

Despite landing another job in motor racing, she was dismissed less than a year later amid “trust issues”.

The other glaring omission in Horner’s carefully-curated life story is the bitter feud with his parents.

Garry and Sara Horner were so horrified when their son hooked up with Geri that they refused to attend the wedding.

Christian and his previous partner, pub landlady Beverley Allen, had a baby daughter, Olivia, who was 19 months at the time of the nuptials.

In Drive, his relationship with Beverley, who died from cancer aged 58, is dispatched in a couple of swift sentences, and he describes falling for Geri like something out of a cheesy romcom.

He says marrying the singer at Woburn Abbey, Beds, in 2015 was the happiest day of his life.

“It was obvious that Beverley and I were drifting apart,” writes Horner.

“Our relationship was now more of a loving friendship than anything else, and it was clear that what had once brought us together was no longer there. We had never married, though we had a daughter, Olivia, and although our relationship had faded, we remained amicable.

“The following year, my relationship with Geri began. She had a natural warmth and confidence, and she treated everyone the same, whether they were royalty or a road sweeper.

“It was clear there was something between us.” Their controversial courtship and Beverley’s heartbreak are skipped entirely, along with him being such a workaholic that he once missed Olivia’s birth.

Months after he began dating Geri, he proposed while hiking up Mount Fuji in Japan, and became a second father to Bluebell, her daughter from a previous relationship with screenwriter Sacha Gervasi.

He says: “Geri was the woman I wanted to marry. I knew it almost from the moment we started going out. Our connection was undeniable; I had never experienced anything like it before. I had totally fallen for her.

“Within twelve months, we were engaged. I wasn’t planning to propose at the ­time — the thought of buying a ring hadn’t even occurred to me — but the occasion seemed too perfect.

“The sun was dipping behind the mountain, the shadows were lengthening, so I grabbed the moment, and Geri, to my relief, said yes.

“With the emotion of the proposal beginning to sink in, we hitched a ride on a passing dustcart and rode to the bottom, laughing.

“Geri and I later married at a beautiful service. Daniel Ricciardo drove us in a vintage Rolls-Royce to the reception; Daniil Kvyat chauffeured the bridesmaids. Geri’s father had sadly passed away when she was in her twenties, so her daughter, Bluebell, walked her down the aisle.

“I knew that when I married Geri, I’d be taking on responsibility for Bluebell, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with the arrangement.

“It was one of the happiest days of my life.” Geri slotted into Horner’s life in the Cotswolds and took to wearing prim, all-white outfits as she embarked on her luxurious role as lady of the manor.

She said in 2019 that her plain wardrobe freed up time and brain space: “I was at a moment in my life when I just needed simplicity.

“Also, if you only wear white, everything matches.”

Within a year of marrying, she was pregnant with their son Monty.

And now, following Horner’s astonishing Red Bull payoff, which was revealed this month, they are considering upgrading their £9.2million Oxfordshire mansion.

They recently viewed Edgcote House, Notts, a sprawling, £45million estate with a private racecourse which featured in the BBC’s Pride And Prejudice. Love-struck Horner might still be unemployed, but he insists the marriage has been all smooth sailing, raving: “I couldn’t have imagined anyone better to spend my life with.

“Geri was unswervingly supportive of what our family wanted to do. In a relationship where both parties were exposed to public scrutiny, she was able to deal with the pressure like it was irrelevant.

“Clearly, years spent at the centre of global fame had given her an extraordinary sense of composure.

“In moments of stress, she had the capacity to compartmentalise the negative emotions and focus on the positives.

“I learned so much from her about how to handle the never-ending stress and cutthroat politics of Formula One.” Horner also bats off the backlash that came his way following his appearances on Netflix’s Drive To Survive.

Last year, he was booed by an angry crowd at the O2 Arena. He was previously dubbed a “Karen” for incessantly complaining about Lewis Hamilton and other teams.

He recalls: “Overnight, Formula One’s audience had grown beyond the traditional fanbase, and with it came a level of scrutiny I’d never experienced before.

“Every comment, every expression and every disagreement became part of the story. In creating a bingeable show, Netflix filmed hundreds of hours of footage and naturally presented the juiciest material, which I ­understood.

“But the fact that Red Bull were going up against Lewis, a national treasure in the UK, meant we were sometimes cast as the villains.

“Before long, I had become Drive To Survive  ’s equivalent of Darth Vader.

“Fortunately, Geri understood the fickle nature of public perception better than I ever could. Really, I should have expected it. It wasn’t pleasant, but I accepted it.

“’It doesn’t matter if they boo’, she said. ‘Booing means they care. It’s only a problem when they ignore you’. Fair enough, I thought. To enjoy the rewards of success, I also had to accept the scrutiny that sometimes came with it.”

Horner admits Beverley’s death last summer was tough on their daughter. “As it became obvious that the end was drawing closer, I talked through the situation with Olivia. It was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

“For the past few years, her mum had been in and out of hospital, and she was growing weaker.

“There was no getting away from what was coming. It all seemed so unfair. I had only recently turned fifty and was lucky enough to still have both my mother and father. I felt upset Olivia wouldn’t have the same experience.

“No little girl should have to go through this, I thought. I wanted to do everything that I could to help.

“But I couldn’t do the one thing she needed most of all. I couldn’t save her mum.”

• Drive by Christian Horner is published on Thursday by Penguin Random House.

MOVE over Brad and Angelina – Hollywood has another bitter custody war on its hands, and this one is about to get even messier, with a 13-year-old boy preparing to give evidence against his own parents.

Oscar-winner Halle Berry and her ex-husband Olivier Martinez are locked in an explosive legal battle over their son Maceo after allegations of physical abuse plunged their already turbulent relationship into fresh crisis.

Today Maceo will appear in court to give evidence in a hearing over a restraining order sought by his dad, who has accused 60-year-old Halle of attacking the teenager during an argument at her home in September.

The judge has ruled that Maceo will testify, despite Halle’s objections, although his evidence is limited to the restraining order request and he will appear in a closed courtroom.

It marks a dramatic new chapter in a custody battle that has dragged on for years since the couple’s disastrous marriage collapsed in 2015 after just two years.

And while French actor Olivier insists his son deserves to have his voice heard, Halle claims the boy has been “coached and manipulated”.

The latest showdown erupted after Olivier, who is also 60, obtained a temporary domestic violence restraining order against Halle this month, accusing her of physically abusing Maceo on September 26 this year.

In the court filings, he alleged she jumped on their son, put her hands around his neck and choked him.

He claimed the row erupted after Halle called Maceo “stupid” over a game involving virtual reality glasses, and that afterwards a “traumatised” Maceo begged Olivier to pick him up.

Halle has vehemently denied the allegations, insisting the pair were “roughhousing”.

She says the incident arose as she tried to enforce boundaries, claiming Maceo had been ­physically aggressive towards her.

In a statement, she said: “I have never physically, emotionally, or otherwise abused Maceo. I am a victim of domestic violence, and I help ­victims of domestic violence . . . I am not a perpetrator of violence. I would never hurt our child.”

Halle has found a fierce ally in 18-year-old Nahla, her daughter by former partner Gabriel Aubry, who leapt to her mum’s defence in a sworn declaration.

She said: “I have never seen my mom hit, slap, choke, grab or physically abuse Maceo in any way.

“I have never seen my mom place her hands around Maceo’s neck, put him in a choke hold, restrict his breathing or engage in any conduct remotely resembling the allegations that have been made against her.”

Nahla described Halle as a “loving and devoted parent”.

It is a far cry from how it all began.

Halle and Olivier met in 2010 in South Africa on the set of the horror film Dark Tide, shortly after she had split from French-Canadian model Gabriel.

They got engaged in 2012 and married in France in July 2013, and Halle gave birth to Maceo that October.

For a time they appeared to have found happiness together, with Maceo’s arrival completing the family.

Now Halle’s lawyer Marina Beck has branded the court filing “entirely meritless and deliberately misleading”.

She claimed Olivier had repeatedly violated court orders, “misconduct for which Mr Martinez has already been legally sanctioned”, and alleged he has a ­history of “erratic, possessive and ­violent behaviour”.

Halle also accuses Olivier of ignoring evidence which she says contradicts his version of events, including statements from her now-fiancé Van Hunt, who was present, and what she describes as contemporaneous video evidence.

Her filing reads: “Van Hunt was physically present during the incident and is the only adult third-party eyewitness to the events at issue.”

She argued that Maceo has “a ­personal interest in minimising his own conduct”, claiming he has behaved similarly at school.

Halle told the court that making him testify would place him “directly in the middle of a highly contentious dispute between his parents” and risk harm to his wellbeing.

She added that he has spent the past two weeks mainly in Olivier’s care, discussing the allegations and the litigation.

But Olivier has launched a blistering counter-attack, insisting his son is the real victim.

His lawyer Patrick Baghdaserians said: “We vehemently deny such ­allegations. The child is the primary victim here. Victims of abuse should be able to testify regarding the abuse inflicted upon them.”

He added: “We are not surprised that the opposing party does not want the child Maceo to testify.

“The opposing party is seemingly scared of what the child will say.”

Olivier said Maceo “was concerned that no one will believe him over his mother” and “wants to speak with the court to provide his side of the story”.

He continued in his declaration: “Given that our son is 13 years old, I believe it would certainly be in his best interest for him to address the court.

“I believe that our son’s testimony will be the key to the Court learning the full truth about the events that occurred on September 26.

“I am the parent who wants the truth to come out. I am the parent who does not want to suppress Maceo’s voice.”

Mr Baghdaserians warned that if their son was stopped from speaking, Olivier “fears that [Maceo] would be dissuaded from reporting problems or potential abuse in the future”.

The team also expected Halle “will try to prevent Maceo from addressing the court directly”.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Shelley Kaufman ruled that “the minor child shall not be coached” and reminded both parents that existing orders remain in force, including not discussing custody issues or court papers with him.

But Olivier has hit back by asking the judge to block Nahla from testifying, claiming she is “unquestionably biased” and has “no significant bearing” on the case.

He said it was not appropriate for Halle to “insert her daughter into ­litigation that does not involve her”.

The hearing is set to be an ­agonising showdown for two exes who have been trading blows in court for years over how to raise Maceo.

The marriage was short-lived. The couple’s wedding took place in France on July 13, 2013, but cracks soon began to show.

In January 2015, showbiz news ­service TMZ reported that Olivier had appeared to push a worker at Los Angeles airport with a child car seat as photographers closed in.

He was named a suspect in a battery investigation but no charges followed.

By October 2015 the couple had confirmed their split, saying in a joint statement they were divorcing “with a heavy heart” and wished each other “nothing but happiness in life”.

Yet the bitter legal wrangling ­rumbled on for the best part of a decade, with their divorce not ­finalised until August 2023.

The settlement required Halle to pay £6,000 a month in child support, cover Maceo’s private school tuition and contribute more than £41,500 towards Olivier’s legal fees, with the pair sharing joint custody of Maceo.

But the courtroom clashes did not stop there. In 2024 the pair were back in front of a judge over co- parenting therapy, with Halle accusing Olivier of trying to delay it by taking “the summer off” to travel.

She then sought sole custody, claiming Maceo had “serious behaviour and learning problems” and that Olivier refused to get a tutor because it could interfere with their son’s football schedule.

Olivier disputed the claims. Halle also said she had spent more than £150,000 trying to “work with” her ex, and swiped at him over child support.

“As Olivier has advised this court, he lives off my child ­support,” she wrote.

Now Olivier has filed for sole custody and has been granted primary custody, along with a restraining order barring Halle from coming within 100 yards of him.

She has been given two days a week of court-ordered visitation and every other weekend with Maceo.

She has also completed a court-mandated parenting programme.

For now, the battle lines are firmly drawn, with Halle fighting to protect her reputation and relationship with her son, while Olivier insists Maceo’s account of events must be heard.

And with Maceo due to take the stand today, the latest chapter in one of Hollywood’s most vicious ­custody disputes is set to unfold in a courtroom far removed from the glitz and glamour of the world that the former couple once shared.

The Sun has approached representatives for both Halle and Olivier for comment.