Spencer Matthews, the millionaire and former star, has declared that his three children will have to earn their own keep as he won’t be handing down his vast family fortune. The 36-year-old, who is the son of multimillionaire Eden Rock hotelier David Matthews and was educated at Eton College, where fees are currently £63,000 a year, has undergone a transformation over the past five years from reality TV playboy to sober businessman and endurance athlete.
In an interview with Notebook magazine, Spencer stated: “Suffer is too strong a word, but it’s very important that my kids have to challenge themselves and experience things on their own. There’s no point in doing well in life and then giving it all to your kids. It’s doing them a huge disservice.” Spencer tied the knot with model Vogue Williams, 39, in June 2018 in a lavish ceremony at the family’s Glen Affric Estate in Cannich. At the time, Vogue was seven months pregnant with their son Theodore, who is now six.
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Spencer and Vogue share three children (Image: Instagram)
The couple also share a daughter, Gigi, four, and another son, Otto, who turns three in April.
Spencer Matthews is instilling a strong work ethic in his kids, with his son Theodore participating in local Parkruns, spurred on perhaps by Spencer’s own extreme running feats.
Discussing parenting philosophies, he revealed: “Theodore is starting to run now. He ran two kilometres the other day. I was just so proud of him because the kid got around two laps, and some kids give up after one lap because they’re given that option.
Spencer added: “The more comfort you wrap around people, the weaker they will become,” reports .
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Spencer and Vogue tied the knot in 2018 (Image: Getty)
Influenced by comedian Jimmy Carr, Spencer shares a disdain for the entitlement that wealth can bring to children: “Jimmy quite eloquently talks about trust fund kids who are given everything, and he sees them as just being really unfortunate, actually. And I would completely agree.”
Adamant that privilege shouldn’t replace ambition, Spencer emphasised the importance of earning one’s success: “If you’re a young man who’s just given everything, or a young woman, who’s just given everything, you may not ever understand the need to work because you have what you think you want, and then, therefore, you won’t ever feel proud of yourself. You won’t ever have a sense of achievement.”