Scandalous- Daphne Guinness Finally Admits To Scandalous Affair

For the past five years it has been an open secret that the English fashion obsessed eccentric heiress, Daphne Guinness has been in a relationship with notoriously narcissistic French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy.

A descendant of the Mitford sisters and heir to the Guinness Stout empire, Guiness was married to Spyros Niarchos, son of the Greek shipping billionaire Stavros Niarchos at 19 and divorced in 1999. They had three children. The relationship with Lévy became a quiet scandal since its birth because he has been married to French actress and singer Arielle Dombasle since 1993.

Guinness who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on haute couture and wears $300 Rick Owens T-shirts to the gym is a front-row fixture at fashion shows and a favorite of high-end designers. In other words she is a clotheshorse nonpareil.


According to a recent article in the NY Post she once met her married lover for lunch at the Four Seasons, and both sat at the table, silently staring at each other behind sunglasses for minutes on end. By all accounts, Guinness is an extremely well-read woman, very bright, prone to self-deprecating humor, a bit fragile and very, very existentially bored.

Not to be outdone in this unusual pairing, the legendary narcissistic philosophy of the thrice-married Lévy is said to be "God is dead, but my hair is perfect". Arielle Dombasle has understandably declined to comment on the relationship between Guinness and her husband.

Guinness has remained tight lipped about the relationship in the past as well but recently revealed oddly to Harper’s Bazaar of all places, how she felt about having a relationship with a married man. She told the magazine, "He is quite obviously the love of my life. My greatest sorrow has been the unresolved question of the state of our relationship."

Society writer David Blasberg writes:

Guinness says that had someone told her five years ago that she was going to fall in love with Lévy, "I would have said you were out of your mind, because I don't date married men. It's not like I haven't had other offers." Yet now she is aware of the peculiar predicament her heart has landed her in. "It certainly doesn't make me feel good to hurt anyone," she says, "but when things are real, and when there is bound to be collateral damage, you have to look at what's most precious. And that's love." Has it been worth the pain to share so much of her life with a married man? To threaten the sanctity of someone else's marriage? "I realized the other day that there is no wrong when love is involved."

Though Levy's wife has been aware of the affair, it seemed that she was, in that very European way, content to ignore it -- Paris was Arielle's turf, and Guinness and Levy had New York City. That no longer seems the case. Apparently now that she has been talking to press regarding her and Lévy’s relationship they have decided to take the next step and live together in Paris. "We are living together in New York and I think we will be living in Paris together very soon, everything is great. I love him so much. I'm so, so happy."

Trés compliqué indeed.