Fifteen years ago, and three days after making £50million from the sale of a stake in Net-a-Porter, the luxury fashion platform that she created, Natalie Massenet sat down with Vogue magazine.
During a revealing interview, she shared the secrets of success as a female entrepreneur. They were simple, she said: choose the right husband and nanny, and then don’t worry about a social life.
How Dame Natalie (an honour bestowed in 2016, for services to the fashion and retail industries) must look back at that naive philosophy with regret.
For a year later, the British-American’s first marriage, to French investment banker Arnaud Massenet, was over and a new relationship with a younger, dashing Swedish entrepreneur Erik Torstensson, co-founder and creative director of the celebrity-beloved fashion brand Frame, had ignited.
Four years later, Massenet – an influential and powerful woman – walked away from Net-a-Porter with an estimated £100 million from the sale of her remaining shares, and her social life with Torstensson exploded.
‘If Erik Torstensson and Dame Natalie Massenet host a house party, you must do anything you can to nab an invitation,’ noted Tatler, in 2017.
But it is that relationship with Torstensson, 47, and his eyebrow-raising extra-curricular activities, that is currently sending ripples through the glossy worlds of fashion and showbusiness.
They are unlikely to be hosting any more parties together any time soon.
Natalie Massenet pictured with her ex-partner Erik Torstensson at The Fashion Awards in 2017
During a revealing interview with Vogue magazine 15 years ago, Dame Natalie (pictured right) shared the secrets of success as a female entrepreneur. They were simple, she said: choose the right husband and nanny, and then don’t worry about a social life. Pictured: Massenet, centre, and Torstensson, left, with Victoria Beckham, right
As the Daily Mail exclusively revealed yesterday, Natalie Massenet has filed an excoriating lawsuit in the US, accusing her erstwhile partner of being a ‘sex addict’. Pictured: His alleged texts to his mistress and a drug dealer
For as the Daily Mail exclusively revealed yesterday, Massenet has filed an excoriating lawsuit in the US, accusing her erstwhile partner of being a ‘sex addict’ who lived a double life of ‘rampant’ drug use, prostitutes and multiple affairs – all while they were building a life and homes (note the plural) together.
Papers lodged as part of the civil case lay bare an extraordinary tale that is said to have left 60-year-old Dame Natalie – a doyenne of fashion, and former chairman of the British Fashion Council once tipped as Anna Wintour’s successor at Vogue – bereft, not least because he is seeking joint custody of their son Jet, whom they welcomed, via surrogate, in 2017.
Massenet claims to have ‘spent more than $95million (£70million) during the course of their relationship on expensive properties, lifestyle expenses, vacations, and more based on Torstensson’s promises to repay her in kind’.
Yet, the Daily Mail can also reveal, rumours about the couple’s relationship – and more pointedly his behaviour had been mounting for weeks before bombshell court papers were lodged in California, on Wednesday.
As one fashion insider observed: ‘I don’t think it comes as a surprise to anyone in her circle that this has happened. She got divorced, met Erik and suddenly became unrecognisable.
‘How she didn’t know beggars belief, she’s a smart woman. But there’s no fool like an old fool.
‘I feel for her because she turned herself into a pretzel for him, they lived hard and fast, like Hotel California.’
Torstensson, a Swedish pig farmer’s son, is accused of using his now-ex-partner for ‘social clout’, then leaving her ‘cash-strapped with his child’.
Massenet claims to have ‘spent more than $95million (£70million) during the course of their relationship on expensive properties, lifestyle expenses, vacations, and more based on Torstensson’s promises to repay her in kind’. Pictured: The couple in 2019
‘As soon as he had finished spending Massenet’s money, he left,’ the court papers say.
As the pair weren’t married, the complaint seeks damages for breach of contract, fraud, and infliction of emotional distress.
‘While Massenet is emotionally devastated and in shock caused by Torstensson’s outrageous behaviour, this is a case of a return on investment in a man who leveraged Massenet’s capital and brand to build wealth, while she bore the majority of the costs,’ reads the complaint.
‘Massenet is demanding now what any investor would – a fair, equitable return on the investments she made, value she created, and costs she carried.’
So what exactly is the nature of this unsavoury battle and how did it come to this?
The barrage of allegations – and it should be noted they are just allegations at the moment – are documented in eyeball-popping detail: prostitutes (he allegedly hired one sex worker just days after celebrating their embryo being implanted with a surrogate), drug use and an affair with someone in Massenet’s daughter’s social circle.
And then there was the lifestyle: ‘flashy private planes’, art to impress his peers, using her connections to enhance his social clout.
David and Victoria Beckham even get a mention, as does a copy of his text message to Victoria, telling her he will send a collection of goodies from his denim fashion brand, Frame, which he founded in 2012.
The barrage of allegations – and it should be noted they are just allegations at the moment – are documented in eyeball-popping detail. Pictured: Texts allegedly sent between Torstensson and a drug dealer
‘When Massenet introduced Torstensson to David and Victoria Beckham, he used the opportunity to get them to wear Frame jeans in public and promote the brand,’ notes the claim.
It is safe to say that should the case continue, there will be many high-profile observers.
Massenet was known to hold court over her own glamorous crowd – people who ‘party hard and gather on St Barts at Christmas’. Torstensson, however, took their partying to another level.
His alleged affairs are now being discussed on the fashion grapevine, and all manner of names are being bandied around.
‘He has a reputation in the industry for sh****** on his own doorstep,’ says our source. ‘A lot of those people are people she would have been kissing hello at parties. He mixed with a very hard-partying crowd.’
To observers, at least, Massenet appeared to be part of the party. ‘She always liked being in the eye of the successful storm and together… He was younger, handsome, everyone kissed a*** and they loved it. They wanted to be seen as rich, at the centre of it, but none of that makes what she says he did OK.
‘It must be extremely painful to discover you have apparently subsidised your partner’s coke and hooker habit.’
Yet there’s more to the case than simple revenge. ‘Those who know Natalie believe this is a woman protecting herself from a really nasty man. This is the purpose of this. The courts are now giving people, in many cases, women, the chance to have their say.
As we revealed yesterday, the marriage is reported to have first hit difficulties in 2024, when Massenet claims she first noticed Torstensson was disappearing at night and drinking heavily. Pictured: The couple in 2014
‘She has been very badly treated and this is about getting back what she is owed.’
Born in Los Angeles, Natalie’s mother was a British-born Chanel model, her father an American journalist-turned-movie publicist.
Well-travelled from an early life, she spent her early years in Paris, before following her father back to LA when her parents split.
After university, she spent a year as a model and stylist in Japan before getting a call from King And I actor Yul Brynner’s daughter Victoria, who was starting a bureau for an Italian fashion magazine and wanted help.
She styled Milla Jovovich and Kim Basinger for shoots before being hired in the West Coast office of the influential Women’s Wear Daily.
And then, on a trip to Notting Hill Carnival, she met her French husband and moved to London – with 30 boxes and no job – before joining Tatler, where she rose through the ranks to become fashion editor.
Two daughters: Isabella, now 24, and Ava, 18, arrived along the way.
The creation of Net-a-Porter in 2000 was something of a eureka moment; while pregnant, at her kitchen table as she attempted to find a pair of Chloé jeans online.
She picked up a pamphlet entitled ‘Are You an Entrepreneur?’ at her local bank and then called Arnaud, telling him, ‘Honey, I’m starting a business.’
Born in Los Angeles, Natalie’s (pictured with Torstensson in 2016) mother was a British-born Chanel model, her father an American journalist-turned-movie publicist
The success of that business is well-known and documented with flourish in Dame Natalie’s legal case. ‘Following the smashing success of Net-a-Porter, Massenet’s reach and influence in the fashion and retail industries only continued to expand,’ it says.
‘In 2012, Massenet was appointed as the first female Chair of the British Fashion Council. She went on to serve in that role for five years, after which time she was made a Dame – the female equivalent of knighthood – by the Queen in recognition of her contribution to the UK fashion and retail industries. This new role expanded Massenet’s already-large social circle and access to London’s elite.’
Torstensson’s journey, by contrast, begins as the only child of a third-generation pig farmer (his father’s business was called Happy Pig), in Sweden. A keen skateboarder, he was also twice Swedish junior champion in swing dance.
He came to London to work as a graphic designer for the interior design magazine Wallpaper.
It was here that he met business partner, and fellow Swede, Jens Grede, and the pair founded their multi-media fashion marketing agency, Saturday (later the huge Saturday Group), in 2003.
Their first proper client was H&M. In 2010, they made an unsolicited pitch to Net-a-Porter to help launch Mr Porter, the male fashion arm of the venture.
The meeting was a success in more ways than one. A business was born and, soon after, so too was a romance.
By the time Torstensson and Grede started Frame, in 2012, the one-time dancer was living with his new love.
The creation of Net-a-Porter in 2000 was something of a Eureka moment; while pregnant, at her kitchen table as she attempted to find a pair of Chloé jeans online. Pictured: Massenet and Torstensson in 2022
Dame Natalie’s legal papers make clear just how important she considers her own part in the growth of Frame, a brand that grew on the back of its celebrity following – model Karlie Kloss had a pair of jeans named after her.
‘The company’s first collection was launched on Net-a-Porter, which provided the venture with validation and a positive image with its target audience, all of which attracted the brand’s largest shareholders. This positioning was crucial,’ note the court papers.
‘Torstensson – who had no prior fashion design experience – has admitted that making Frame successful came down to selling a lifestyle. Torstensson was able to do so by taking advantage of the Net-a-Porter name, in addition to publicizing the ‘jet set life’ that Massenet funded but Torstensson took credit for.’
In the wake of Net-A-Porter, she went on to invest in some of the fashion world’s hottest start-ups through her venture capital firm Imaginary Ventures, including beauty brand Glossier, sustainable label Reformation and fashion platform Farfetch, which she co-chaired. According to the court papers, Dame Natalie massively supported Torstensson’s business ventures through Imaginary.
He was able to acquire substantial positions in a number of brands, including Kim Kardashian’s SKIMS, Khloe Kardashian’s Good American and NFL legend Tom Brady’s clothing brand BRADY.
The value of those positions is now under scrutiny.
The papers state: ‘The equity value of Torstensson’s stake in SKIMS alone is estimated to be in excess of $300million.’
Given the millions that get referenced in any mention of this couple, it’s no surprise that their life together was glossy, an extravagance, Massenet says, driven by him.
‘When Massenet introduced Torstensson to David and Victoria Beckham, he used the opportunity to get them to wear Frame jeans in public and promote the brand,’ notes the claim. Pictured: A text from Torstensson to Victoria Beckham asking her and husband David to help promote his brand
Once, Massenet claimed her hobby was looking at country houses online, and investing in them.
Take Donhead House, a Georgian-meets-Edwardian sprawl in Wiltshire that was once home to Prime Minister Anthony Eden. The couple spent six years – and £14million – restoring it, while they lived in London.
But according to Natalie, this was all done so that Torstensson could ‘invite and impress his business associates’.
Then came a house in the Hamptons ($15.5million) – a favourite of Torstensson – and, she says, a vehicle for yet more schmoozing.
They then decided to move to New York, where having spent two years renovating one townhouse on the Upper East Side, a water leak derailed things, so they (or rather, as Massenet says, she) bought a second next door and embarked on a double-sized project. ‘Life is good,’ she said in an interview about the project, just two years ago.
In the midst of it all came the their son, Jet – born via surrogate, and after seeking the permission of her daughters – in 2017.
His arrival was marked on social media, with a black-and-white photograph of the newborn’s hand with the caption: ‘Erik and I are so proud and happy to welcome to the world our much longed-for addition to our family and our first son – Jet Everest Torstensson.’
Despite her business success, Massenet always insisted that prior to her life with her younger beau, she did not live lavishly; she drove a Smart car and flew economy class.
But afterwards, there is no doubt theirs was a life of gloss and glamour. In 2017, they topped that Tatler Most Invited list.
As we revealed yesterday, the marriage first hit difficulties in 2024, when Massenet first noticed Torstensson was disappearing at night and drinking heavily.
Court documents deliver a colourful account.
‘Massenet witnessed as Torstensson became emotionally distant, drank more heavily, disappeared for nights, and became physically and emotionally unwell.’
So worried was she about her partner, that she suggested he see a specialist in case he had cancer.
She’d apparently found a prescription bottle of a drug called Valacyclovir, which he told her was for hives, but which she discovered could be used to treat herpes, a sexually transmitted disease.
There was a relationship counsellor too, but by May this year, we are told he returned from working in LA and told his partner he was ‘no longer in love’ with her and that he ‘did not believe their romantic relationship could continue’.
When he checked into a treatment centre, at their counsellor’s suggestion, the documents say, she found one of his old phones, ‘which revealed the shocking details of his indiscretions’ and that he had been living a ‘secret life for many years’.
She allegedly found explicit messages and photographs showing her partner had ‘maintained multiple affairs with several younger women for years’.
When confronted, Mr Torstensson was said to have confessed he was a ‘liar, an alcoholic, a drug addict, a sex addict and that it had gone on for seven years’.
He hasn’t, yet, filed a response to her legal claim.
The fashion fraternity awaits the next instalment with avid curiosity.
