RICHARD EDEN: Heartache for bonkbuster author Jilly Cooper as daughter and husband split

By RICHARD EDEN FOR THE DAILY MAIL

Published: 22:00 BST, 11 April 2025 | Updated: 22:09 BST, 11 April 2025

Her frequently unbuttoned hero, Rupert Campbell-Black, who vaults from lover to lover in her ‘Rutshire Chronicles’, won a new generation of fans last year when portrayed by Alex Hassell in the Disney+ adaptation of Rivals, a bonkbuster romping from the pleasures of tennis – played naked, of course – to those of the ‘Mile High’ club.

But Jilly Cooper, whose first ever book was a non-fiction work entitled How To Stay Married, is all too aware of real-life challenges, courtesy of the ups and downs she experienced in her 52-year marriage to her beloved husband, the late Leo Cooper.

Effervescent Jilly, 88, has remained single since Leo succumbed to Parkinson’s disease in 2013. 

She and Leo forgave each other for affairs, but she has just had a reminder of marital difficulties distressingly close to home.

Jilly Cooper, 88, has remained single since Leo succumbed to Parkinson’s disease in 2013

Richard Eden can disclose that that the Jilly Cooper’s daughter, Emily, who lives 20 or so miles from Jilly’s manor house in the Cotswolds, is now on her own, following the departure of her husband, Adam Tarrant

I can disclose that the author’s daughter, Emily, who lives 20 or so miles from Jilly’s manor house in the Cotswolds, is now on her own, following the departure of her husband, Adam Tarrant.

‘Adam’s no longer living there,’ I’m told. There was, perhaps, an indication of tension in May last year, when Adam, an executive with a sports marketing agency, missed the Windsor Castle investiture at which King Charles made Jilly a Dame. 

Not only were Emily and her brother, Felix, there but so too was Felix’s wife, Edwina. Make-up expert Emily, 54, whose clients have included French and Saunders and Jane Seymour, declines to discuss the separation, telling me: ‘I’m sure you understand.’

She and Adam have three sons, the eldest of whom, Jago, was a member of the crew during the filming of Rivals.

Adam refrains from commenting on the drama at home. So does Jilly, but she’ll surely be doing everything she can to reunite the couple.

She’s previously asserted that life is ‘much tougher for my children’s generation’.

She added: ‘I can’t bear to think of anything happening to Emily and Adam and the boys. I know it’s out of my hands, but I don’t want anything to spoil her merry nature.’

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RICHARD EDEN: Heartache for bonkbuster author Jilly Cooper as daughter and husband split

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