Dad never slept with that woman: Robin Gibb's son lashes out at housekeeper who claims she had the Bee Gee's love child
- Bee Gee Robin Gibb’s will revealed a complicated personal history
- He had two wives and a mistress and at least one child with each of them
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A person's will lays bare, in cold legal language, the story of their life.
What relationships meant the most to them, who they loved and — by omission — who they disdained.
Bee Gee Robin Gibb’s will, made public last week, reveals a complicated personal history.
Two wives, one mistress and four children by these three women.
Close: Robin Gibb with wife Dwina Gibb and son RJ at their home in Oxfordshire
The reading of a will is always emotional for those left behind, but the Last Will And Testament of Robin Hugh Gibb — in essence his voice from the grave — appears to have provoked anguish among his family.
The musician, who died in May last year, aged 62, from colon cancer, leaves the bulk of his £25.8million estate to his second wife, Dwina, 60.
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ShareThe two children from his first marriage, Spencer, 40, and Melissa, 38, receive cash gifts of £500,000. There is nothing for his first wife, Molly Hullis, whom he divorced in 1980.
His 38-year-old mistress, Claire Yang — mother of his four-year-old daughter, Snow — gets an £800,000 house.
And the will, drawn up in August 2011, nine months before his death, states that the Bee Gee was in the process of ‘making reasonable provision for Snow’. This suggestion of uncertainty led to reports this week that Snow had been ‘cut out of the will’.
'Provided for': Claire Yang with her baby daughter Snow Evelyn Robin Juliet Gibb
In fact, a friend of Dwina’s confirmed to the Mail that such ‘reasonable provision’ was put in place before Gibb’s death — a figure reported to be £4million.
And what of Gibb’s son with Dwina, 30-year-old musician Robin-John? What is his share in the estate?
Upon his mother Dwina’s death, Robin-John (known as RJ), Spencer and Melissa will share what’s left of their father’s estate. But in the meantime, RJ gets nothing from the will. No cash gift like his half-siblings, no personal items such as a watch or artwork — not even a Bee Gees album.
Of course, it’s very possible that before Robin died, he transferred a sum of money to RJ, possibly as a way of avoiding inheritance tax. Indeed, Isle of Man-born Gibb’s fortune has been estimated previously at around £90million, and may be tied up in assets held overseas.
But isn’t it somehow odd that there is nothing immediate in the will — not even a symbolic gesture? Especially while his father’s mistress has a nice house and his love-child reportedly has £4million in the bank.
The money is for Snow’s education and upbringing — but there’s sure to be plenty left over for clothes and holidays.
How, one wonders, does RJ feel?
Well, a clue could be found this week in a posting on his Facebook page, following newspaper reports about the contents of the will.
The subject of the posting is Claire Yang, Gibb’s former lover, who used to work as housekeeper at his and Dwina’s mansions in Thame, Oxfordshire, and Miami, Florida.
It is believed the affair began in 2001, and Snow was born in November 2008. (Where her name came from is a mystery.)
Gibb never denied fathering her, and if there was ever a question mark over her parentage, it should have been erased by now — for Gibb’s name is on her birth certificate, and a section in his will is devoted to ‘my daughter Snow Evelyn Robin Juliet Gibb’.
But shockingly, RJ is now asserting that Gibb is not Snow’s father at all.
Family trouble: RJ, pictured with parents Robin and Dwina, claims that Snow is not in fact Robin's daughter
More misinformation,’ he writes on a Facebook post. ‘There is no evidence behind this housekeeper rumour that got out of hand.
‘She never slept with my father. He didn’t sleep around, but if he had he would have had better taste than that!’
RJ goes on, by way of explanation: ‘This woman had boyfriends in town.’
He is even angry at the reports mentioning his mother being a ‘druid priestess’. ‘A family friend is a Druid, and his group made her an honorary member,’ he writes.
‘Suddenly a paper said she is a high priestess lol. This is the same old regurgitated c**p that’s been peddled before without a shred of veracity in what is written.’
He adds at the end: ‘It was insulting at first, then it was funny, but now it’s just old.’ Whether this is a reference to Claire Yang’s affair with Gibb, or to his mother being referred to as a Druid high priestess, isn’t clear.
Whatever, it’s strange, because Dwina’s involvement in Druidism is just as real and documented as Snow’s parentage. She even once gave an interview in which she said she’d had the tennis court at the family home — which dates back to the 12th century — taken up and replaced with a mini Stonehenge.
She is certainly eccentric, and tells visitors to the house about the gardener ‘John’, who did the weeding 500 years ago and still potters around the grounds, planting and pruning.
Family portrait: Robin and Dwina with baby RJ in 1983
Goodness knows how RJ would have reacted if the reports this week had brought up the fact that in the Seventies, his mother starred in a number of porn movies and posed for sex magazines.
Regardless, it’s all rather out of character. Usually, RJ is fairly mild-mannered, which makes his outburst all the more surprising.
He is a personable, dark-haired young man, who resembles his mother rather than his father. He was raised at the family home in Thame and spent a lot of time at his parents’ property in Miami.
After attending Ashfold School in Buckinghamshire, he went on to New College, Oxford, then the Gulliver Academy in Miami, to study drama. He has since followed his father into the music business, though is yet to enjoy his success.
Some children of eccentric parents react by being utterly conventional, but friends say RJ is rather ‘off the wall’, like his mother and father.
Is RJ hurt because Yang, the woman he appears to despise, has been provided with millions for her daughter’s upbringing while he has to wait many years for his bequest?
He had always been very close to his father — they jointly wrote the score for The Titanic Requiem, recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to commemorate the centenary of the sinking of the ship. Indeed, after Dwina’s death, RJ will be appointed manager of Robin’s music rights.
Early death: Robin Gibb died in May last year at 62 from colon cancer
Yet friends say dealing with Robin’s affair with Claire, the arrival of Snow in 2008, then Gibb’s diagnosis with colon cancer in 2010, devastated RJ and his mother.
Gibb’s relationship with Dwina, whom he wed in 1985, was famously — notoriously, even — unconventional. There were many reports about their ‘open marriage’, talk of Robin’s ‘threesomes’ and his going ‘cruising’ for sex.
Dwina, by all accounts, was perfectly happy for Robin to have affairs, and he in turn was relaxed — approving even — of her affairs with women.
According to one associate, the couple would happily discuss the details of their unconventional arrangement to anyone prepared to listen.
‘They didn’t feel the need to keep it to themselves,’ explains the friend. ‘They were very open about what went on. It could get rather embarrassing — it was too much information, too much of the time.’
Dwina reportedly once said to an interviewer: ‘We have an open relationship. Robin has had flings with friends of mine, and he talks to me about them.’
But despite their ‘anything goes’ attitude, Dwina did not anticipate that Gibb would father another child with one of his women. That, it seems, was the only rule imposed by Dwina on the marriage — and Robin broke it.
Dwina had reportedly been accepting of Robin’s relationship with the housekeeper, but when she discovered Miss Yang was pregnant, she is said to have told her to pack her bags and leave. Yang moved into a nearby property, a converted barn.
Friends say Robin himself had been none too pleased that she was expecting.
One of them says: ‘He could be quite difficult and self-obsessed, and Claire pandered completely to him. She nurtured him and soothed his ego. Having a baby together wasn’t part of the deal.’
After Snow’s birth at the private Portland Hospital in West London, however, Gibb fell in love with his baby daughter and would regularly visit her and her mother. Asked about his youngest child, he replied: ‘New life is heaven-sent and is a blessing.’
The affair between Robin and Claire became public knowledge three months after Snow was born. Soon afterwards, a photograph emerged of the pair that had been taken by a fan in September 2004, in which they are standing together in the lobby of the five-star Westin Bellevue Hotel in Dresden, Germany.
Height of fame: Robin, left, with Maurice and Barry Gibb in The Bee Gees in 1978
Friends say Claire, who was born in Braintree, Essex, was besotted with Gibb, and nurtured a hope that one day he would leave Dwina for her.
But Gibb had no intention of doing so. Not long after the story of his ‘love-child’ broke, he said about his marriage to Dwina: ‘Our relationship is rock-solid, and that’s the most important thing to me.’
Miss Yang moved into the £800,000 property in Amersham, Buckinghamshire — left to her in Gibb’s will — in 2010.
Her relationship with Gibb suffered during this time, and reports suggest they drifted apart towards the end of his life.
The legal to-ings and fro-ings organising financial provision for Snow, while Gibb was undergoing cancer treatment, reportedly caused further strain between them.
Miss Yang and her daughter did not attend Gibb’s funeral, but his surviving brother, Barry, spoke about Robin’s love for his children: Spencer, Melissa and RJ. Then he added: ‘And little Snow.’
This week, a woman who answered the door of Claire’s modern five-bedroom detached house said she was out, but would not wish to talk about Snow and the provision made for her by Gibb.
Sources say both Claire and Dwina have signed an agreement not to talk publicly about the financial arrangements for the little girl.
And what about RJ? Well, he became a father himself last week. He and his girlfriend, Megan Golub, are celebrating the arrival of a son, Maxwell-Robin John Gibb — who would have been Robin’s first grandchild.
RJ’s tirade on Facebook against Miss Yang is followed by a tribute to the joys of fatherhood — rather contrasting in style.
‘All the best to everyone,’ he writes (excepting Miss Yang, presumably). ‘PS. Max, my baby boy, is doing well and he’s such a good boy. He hardly cries. The little angel. I can sit and watch him sleeping for hours.
‘I am an extremely proud father, nothing to beat the feeling. Lots of love, Sincerely RJ.’
Experiencing that first, powerful rush of paternal love for his newborn son, one can only imagine how greatly RJ misses his own late father. It seems such a shame that the Gibb family appears still to be mired in acrimony over what Robin has left behind.
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