Elle Macpherson has been spotted snuggling up to her new love interest, discredited former doctor and driving force of the anti-vaxxer movement Andrew Wakefield.
The couple, whose relationship was confirmed by exclusive photographs earlier this month, were also seen holding hands as they enjoyed a day of shopping in Miami, Florida.
Wakefield, 61, was banned from practising medicine in his native Britain eight years ago after helping spawn the modern anti-vaccination movement with widely discredited research, claiming the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) jab causes autism and bowel disease.
Undeterred by rain, they wandered about the upscale retail district, stopping at two home goods stores and a furniture shop before having lunch at trendy restaurant Dr Smood.
Elle, 54, was wearing a pink dress and beige cardigan while Wakefield was sporting baggy jeans, a red T-shirt and espadrilles.
Earlier this month, DailyMail.com revealed that Wakefield had lost inches off his waistline after replacing his favorite foods with nutrition-packed ‘wellness shakes’ recommended by healthy-eating Elle.
The married father-of-four has also swapped out his dowdy wardrobe with trendy linens and slim-fit outfits to impress his world famous girlfriend, according to close friends.
Brian Burrowes, 48, who edited Wakefield’s controversial 2016 documentary Vaxxed, said the former doctor started dating Macpherson after meeting her at an awards ceremony in November.
But Wakefield’s wife’s brother revealed that he only told her that their relationship was over in April.
The couple, whose relationship was confirmed by exclusive photographs earlier this month, were also seen holding hands as they enjoyed a day of shopping in Miami, Florida
Undeterred by rain, they wandered about the upscale retail district, stopping at two home goods stores and a furniture shop before having lunch at trendy restaurant Dr Smood. They even had a little snuggle on an escalator
Elle, 54, was wearing a pink dress and beige cardigan while Wakefield was sporting baggy jeans, a red T-shirt and espadrilles
Earlier this month, DailyMail.com revealed that Wakefield had lost inches off his waistline after replacing his favorite foods with nutrition-packed ‘wellness shakes’ recommended by healthy-eating Elle
A source previously told MailOnline that Wakefield separated from his wife Carmel in 2017 and first started seeing Elle in late 2017 after they met at an event in Orlando. Pictured: The new couple in Miami
Just over a year ago, Elle was awarded $53million in cash and a $26million home following her divorce from billionaire Jeffrey Soffer.
A source previously told MailOnline that Wakefield separated from his wife Carmel in 2017 and first started seeing Elle in late 2017 after they met at an event in Orlando.
The first photographs showing Elle and Wakefield together are said to have stunned 61-year-old Carmel.
She is also a doctor, but also describes herself as a voice actor, radio host and longtime supporter of her estranged husband’s discredited work linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
Elle, who is known as ‘The Body,’ appeared on Megyn Kelly Today last week to speak about her wellness regimen and ageless beauty and she insisted that she was on the verge of losing her good looks four years ago.
But she did not mention her new romance.
‘When I turned 50, I wasn’t feeling very well and I actually wasn’t looking very well,’ she told Megyn, explaining that she was struggling with her skin, hair, and weight.
Brian Burrowes, 48, who edited Wakefield’s controversial 2016 documentary Vaxxed, said the former doctor started dating Macpherson after meeting her at an awards ceremony in November
The couple walk down stairs at an upmarket retail area in Miami, Florida, with Elle showing off her thighs and Wakefield drenched by rain
‘When I turned 50, I wasn’t feeling very well and I actually wasn’t looking very well,’ Elle told Megyn Kelly last week, explaining that she was struggling with her skin, hair, and weight. Pictured: Elle and Wakefield in Miami
The supermodel’s brand WelleCo offers its own line of ‘Super Elixirs,’ a blend of 45 plant-based ingredients that dissolve in water for an all-in-one daily health boost. But there is more to her routine than just a healthy powder. Pictured: Wakefield points the way in Miami
Elle recalled having sugar cravings, poor digestion, and getting very little sleep during this time in her life, and she admitted to feeling generally uninspired.
‘I went to my nutritionist [Simone Laubscher] and I just said, “Listen something is wrong. What I used to do doesn’t work anymore, and I really need to address my lifestyle or something,”‘ she said.
Laubscher told her that she was ‘taking a lot of synthetic vitamins’ and had her switch to a custom-mixed powdered greens supplement with multivitamins, minerals, probiotics, and prebiotics.
Elle also started following the plant-based alkaline diet the nutritionist recommended.
‘I was kind of malnourished. I wasn’t sleeping very much, and I wasn’t eating enough plants, you know, fruits and vegetables. [I was] drinking lots of coffee,’ she said.
‘I started on this program and within a month I noticed such a change.’
Elle recounted Andrea Horwood, the now CEO of her wellness brand WelleCo, asking her what she was doing because she looked ‘amazing.’
‘I said, “You know, I am taking this green powder and its just changed my life. It’s changed the way I feel,’ she explained.
Elle and Wakefield walk away holding hands after the day out in Miami
The supermodel’s brand WelleCo offers its own line of ‘Super Elixirs,’ a blend of 45 plant-based ingredients that dissolve in water for an all-in-one daily health boost. But there is more to her routine than just a healthy powder.
As part of her super-healthy alkaline diet, she abstains from alcohol and eats mostly vegetables and fruit, either raw or lightly steamed or roasted.
‘I love seeds and nuts. I don’t eat meat and I don’t eat fish and chicken,’ she told Today. ‘But if I go to a friend’s house, I’ll eat what they prepare.’
In the mornings, she swirls organic coconut oil around mouth for up to 10 minutes instead of using toothpaste.
The practice is known as coconut oil pulling, and she insisted that it has ‘done wonders’ for her teeth and gums.
‘It’s actually a common practice and a very old-fashioned practice,’ she told Megyn. ‘It’s not, you know, hocus pocus; it’s something that people have done for a long time.’
Elle explained that the theory is that you detox a lot in your sleep, and then you can ‘help rid your body of your toxins through the mouth’ through oil pulling.
The supermodel also does dry body brushing to help stimulate circulation and lymphatic drainage.
‘I have a natural approach to beauty,’ she told Today. ‘In my experience, all my years all the things I’ve tried all the fancy creams, everything, I just find that for me, the most natural approach to beauty is the best.’
Elle even has a homeopathic remedy to calm herself when she has trouble falling asleep. She will lie on her back, rest her feet on the wall, and stretch her arms.
She did not, however, have a word to say about her beau or his controversial past.
Wakefield – who was born in Eton, Berkshire – speculated that being injected with a ‘dead’ form of the measles virus via vaccination causes disruption to intestinal tissue.
After his paper was published in 1998, vaccinations plummeted in the UK from over 90 per cent to as low as 61 per cent in parts of London in 2003.
In the country as a whole, the vaccination rate fell from 92 per cent in 1996 to 84 per cent in 2002.
The exclusive photograph revealed by MailOnline earlier this month showing Elle kissing the former British doctor at a market
Elle, who is known as ‘The Body,’ appeared on Megyn Kelly Today last week to speak about her wellness regimen and ageless beauty and she insisted that she was on the verge of losing her good looks four years ago
Elle has explained that the theory is that you detox a lot in your sleep, and then you can ‘help rid your body of your toxins through the mouth’ through oil pulling
Elle was pictured with former doctor Wakefield at the Doctors Who Rock Awards in November 2017, which is when their relationship is claimed to have begun
Wakefield (centre) and Macphereson (back centre) were photographed at an event earlier this year, with Wakefield wearing a leather jacket
Candidate Donald Trump and Andrew Wakefield met on Aug 11, 2016 in Kissimmeem, Florida during campaigning. Donald Trump has repeatedly linked vaccination with autism
The Wakefield family – Andrew’s ex-wife, Carmel, and their four children – are pictured in a photograph published in 2010
Andrew Wakefield, his former wife Carmel, and their daughter Imogen pose for a picture published in 2010
The Wakefield family – Andrew’s ex-wife, Carmel, and their four children – are pictured in a photograph published in 2010
His message has also been blamed for spikes in measles rates elsewhere in the world.
In 2014, science journalist Laurie Garrett, who works for the Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said: ‘Our data suggests that where Wakefield’s message has caught on, measles follows.’
In 2004, Wakefield’s theory was found to have been based on false evidence – it was retracted by journal The Lancet in 2010, and he was banned from practising medicine in the UK three months later.
One of the other authors of the paper, John Walker-Smith, was also struck off.
Wakefield relocated with his family to Texas after the findings. He later found an ally in President Donald Trump, who repeatedly tweeted his suspicion of vaccinations.
He met the president along with four other anti-vaccine campaigners in the summer of 2016 as well as attending one of his inauguration balls after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.
What happened during the MMR vaccination scandal?
In 2001, Wakefield (pictured in 2007) resigned from the Royal Free, claiming he was ‘asked to go’ because his ‘research results are unpopular’
On February 28, 1998 disgraced doctor Andrew Wakefield – then a gastroenterologist and researcher at the Royal Free Hospital in London – published a paper in The Lancet with 12 other authors.
They claimed to have discovered a new form of autism called ‘autistic enterocolitis’ after a study based on 12 children with autism.
It suggested the possibility of a link between a new form of bowel disease, autism and the MMR vaccine (for measles, mumps and rubella).
It was later retracted by The Lancet and branded ‘utterly false’.
The parents of eight of the children mentioned in the paper connected the symptoms with MMR, the authors wrote.
They also said the parents reported that the symptoms appeared within two weeks of their children’s MMR vaccinations.
The paper was extremely controversial, but a press conference held by Wakefield before it was even published had an even greater impact.
He called for the suspension of MMR vaccinations, arguing that it was a ‘moral issue’.
‘Urgent further research is needed to determine whether MMR may give rise to this complication in a small number of people,’ he added.
‘If you give three viruses together, three live viruses, then you potentially increase the risk of an adverse event occurring, particularly when one of those viruses influences the immune system in the way that measles does.’
He also took his message to the USA, appearing on 60 Minutes in November 2000.
In 2001, he resigned from the Royal Free, claiming he was ‘asked to go’ because his ‘research results are unpopular’.
But in 2010 the General Medical Council revoked Wakefield’s medical licence after ruling his conduct ‘dishonest and irresponsible’.
At the hearing, he was accused of being paid to conduct his study by lawyers representing parents who thought their children had been affected by MMR vaccinations.
He was also accused of buying blood samples from children at his son’s birthday party, paying them each £5.
The council ruled against Wakefield on both points – as well as several others.
In 2001, he resigned from the Royal Free, claiming he was ‘asked to go’ because his ‘research results are unpopular’. Pictured: Wakefield in 2001
The British Medical Journal said his work was fraudulent and that his data had been manipulated.
In 2004, the paper was attacked by ten of its 13 authors.
They wrote: ‘We wish to make it clear that in this paper no causal link was established between (the) vaccine and autism, as the data were insufficient. However, the possibility of such a link was raised,’ the scientists said in the retraction.
‘Consequent events have had major implications for public health. In view of this, we consider now is the appropriate time that we should together formally retract the interpretation placed on these findings in the paper.’