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Erica Jean

In Made in Chelsea, a long-running British reality TV show similar to Keeping Up with the Kardashians that delves into the lives of the ultra-wealthy, Spencer Matthews was known as the “bad boy” who partied hard and drank excessively.
However, unlike many young men in their 20s, Matthews did not develop his drinking habits through university life or socialising with friends. His alcohol use stemmed from a family tragedy.
Matthews’ early life

Born to entrepreneur David Matthews and artist and interior designer Jane Spencer Parker in 1988, Spencer Matthews and his two older brothers, Michael and James, grew up in luxury, splitting their time between Caunton Manor in Nottinghamshire, England and the Caribbean Eden Rock Resort in Saint Barthelemy.
While James pursued a career as an investment manager and married Pippa Middleton, younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales, Michael’s life was cut short.

At 22 he set out to climb Mount Everest, but disappeared in a snowstorm after reaching the summit. He was later presumed dead.
Spencer was 10 years old at the time.
Using alcohol to cope

“I’d grown up with the thought that Michael’s death could definitely have been avoided, and [the expedition planners] were responsible,” he told the Radio Times, although a prosecution case failed for lack of evidence of negligence.
His resentment, coupled with unsuccessful therapy, led to the reality TV star using alcohol as a coping mechanism.

“That’s how I felt growing up and I would get drunk and I would talk about it and blow off steam by getting really angry about it from time to time,” he said on the Daily Mail’s Everything I Know About Me podcast. “It was a really strange time in my life [when] I drank to excess, often at a very young age.”
Matthews continued to use alcohol while studying cinema and television at the University of Southern California in 2007, dropping out after his first year. His drinking continued during his time as a city trader and through 10 seasons of Made in Chelsea, during which time he was notorious for partying hard and being entangled in romantic dramas.
A steady relationship

However, things began to change when he met Irish model Vogue Williams through his second reality TV show, The Jump. The programme featured celebrities attempting various winter sports.
Eventually, Matthews, now 36, began therapy again and quit alcohol in 2018, the same year he married Williams and started a family.
“There was a certainty that I would lose Vogue if I carried on drinking the way I was drinking,” he shared in the podcast.
A no-booze business

This transformation led him to establish CleanCo, a company offering a range of non-alcoholic spirits.
“Developing CleanCo was not to preach about alcohol consumption, but to give you a choice when mixing a drink, without compromising on taste or social experience,” he wrote on the company website.
Since quitting alcohol for good Matthews has also revisited his past, filming a documentary for Disney+ called Finding Michael. It concentrates on his expedition to recover his brother’s body from Everest.

Interestingly, the former reality TV star has said he doesn’t watch reality television.
“I just don’t think it’s great television. I’m not curious about other people’s personal affairs at all, unless you’re very close to me or we’re close friends,” he shared in an interview with The Times. “I’m at a stage in my life where I’m just in my own zone with my family.”
Matthews has, however, taken part in The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer; he also completed the Great Desert Challenge in support of preschool children with physical disabilities. He achieved his goal of running 30 marathons in 30 days across the Jordanian desert last July and August.


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Made in Chelsea made a star out of real-life rich kid Spencer Matthews; now a family man and charity fundraiser, he runs his own zero-alcohol spirits company


Made in Chelsea made a bad-boy star out of real-life rich kid Spencer Matthews; now a family man and charity fundraiser, he runs his own zero-alcohol spirits company


Meet reformed Made in Chelsea bad boy Spencer Matthews – whose brother married Pippa Middleton: the reality TV star-turned-marathon runner battled alcoholism to turn his life around

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Made in Chelsea made a star out of real-life rich kid Spencer Matthews; now a family man and charity fundraiser, he runs his own zero-alcohol spirits company

Matthews’ early life

Made in Chelsea made a star out of real-life rich kid Spencer Matthews; now a family man and charity fundraiser, he runs his own zero-alcohol spirits company