MODEL Kelly Fisher shot to fame as the face of high end brands like Armani and Calvin Klein.
But away from her work in the fashion industry, she was well known for her high profile romance with Dodi Al-Fayed – right before Princess Diana.
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Who is Kelly Fisher?
Kelly Fisher was born in 1967, and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, in the US, where she lived until she was eight years old.
Due to her father’s work as the vice president of an international company the family relocated often.
While living in Toronto, Ontario, at age 16 she started modelling.
Kelly went on to work for brands such as Armani, Calvin Klein, and more.
How did she meet Dodi Al-Fayed and how long were they together?
In July 1996, Kelly met Dodi Al-Fayed, an Egyptian film producer, in Paris.
The couple soon fell in love and almost a year into the relationship, got engaged in February 1997.
According to Kelly, they were due to live in a mansion in Malibu that Dodi had bought.
Kelly claimed that Dodi convinced her to give up her career for him, giving her £2,000-a-day allowance in return.
The wedding date was set for August 9, 1997, but Kelly, then 30, claimed that Dodi dumped her by phone on August 7, 1997 – the day his relationship with Diana first hit the news.
They had set a wedding date for August 9, 1997, but Kelly claimed that Dodi broke up with her because of his affair with Diana.
She said they had been due to marry on August 9 and that they had already been looking forward to starting a family.
But a fuzzy image dubbed “The Kiss” showed Dodi and Diana embracing on a yacht Jonikal off St Tropez.
It had been taken by an Italian paparazzo using a telephoto lens on August 4 and was bought for £300,000 by a Sunday newspaper.
In total, images from the holiday were sold for more than £3 million around the world.
Kelly had been in St Tropez at the time the first kiss picture was taken, staying aboard another of the Fayed family’s yachts.
She had thought it was a pre-wedding holiday with Dodi – who she now realised had been two-timing her.
But before the tragic car crash, Kelly moved quickly from heartbreak to anger.
By August 14, 1997 she was back in California – Dodi had recently bought her a home in Malibu – and was exacting her revenge.
At a press conference she wept as her attorney announced plans to sue the love rat for “emotionally leaving her at the altar”.
With a flourish, the lawyer held up one of two sapphire and diamond rings Kelly claimed 42-year-old Dodi had bought for her.
She said the model would not talk to the press but when asked by a reporter why she was still wearing the other engagement ring, Kelly sobbed: “Because I loved him.”
A tell-all newspaper interview followed, where Kelly claimed Dodi was a dud in bed who made love to her in the moonlight in St Tropez before heading off to romance Diana during the day.
She also alleged that during their 13-month romance, Dodi had handed her a cheque for £100,000 which bounced.
However, her planned £340,000 “breach of contract” lawsuit came to a sudden end when Dodi was killed with Di.
Where is Kelly Fisher now?
Kelly now lives in Aiken, South Carolina, with her husband, Mikhail Movshina, who is a pilot, and their daughter, Alexandra Grace.
She now works as a property developer.
The memories are still agonising for Kelly, as the ex-model said: “You go in the course of three weeks from being engaged to Dodi to being left for the most famous, gorgeous woman in the world, to them all dying.
“In three weeks. That was just terrible. I was pretty young. It was pretty bad.”
She explained that the pain was made worse by Dodi’s father Mohamed Al-Fayed denying his son had ever been engaged to her, and accusing her of being a “gold-digger”.
She continued: “He was talking about the lawsuit. But I had stopped working – I put my life on hold.”
Despite the controversy and the drama that surrounded her, Dodi, and Diana, Kelly says that she has left all the grievances in the past.
She told The Sun: “I was heartbroken to see the pictures of Diana and Dodi together. But the most heartbroken I ever, ever was – ever – was when he died. That was too much for me. It was incredibly difficult.”
Kelly revealed that she has kept the engagement ring from Dodi as a memento of their time together.
Expressing sympathy for Diana’s sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, she said: “I have a daughter now and cannot imagine what would have happened if I was suddenly gone. I can’t imagine what those boys must have felt.”