Strictly Lynda Bellingham will feud – sons 'betrayed' to hubby buying lavish holidays

Strictly Come Dancing star Lynda Bellingham thought she had left her affairs in order when she sadly died in 2014 – but that was not the case.

In 2013, Lynda was diagnosed with colorectal cancer, which later metastasised to her lungs and liver, giving her “months to live”.

Despite willing herself to make one last Christmas with her family, Lynda sadly died in October 2014, with her husband Michael Pattemore by her side.

READ MORE: Max George shares intimate snap of Strictly co-star Maisie Smith sleeping

After her death, Lynda’s £1.9million estate was launched into a hugely public dispute – with her two sons Robbie and Michael alleging Mr Pattemore splashed “thousands of pounds on lavish holidays and other luxuries” after her death.

Pattemore insisted he isn’t a “gold digger” despite cutting the boys out of his own will.

Daily Star takes a deep dive into what really went on.

£1.9million estate – and huge debts

Though Lynda left an estate worth around £1.9million, her husband claimed the star was more than £50,000 in debt when she passed away.

Lynda left her entire estate to her husband, Michael Pattemore.

In June 2016, a document released by the High Court showed that the actual value of said estate was only £166,000.

Her actual debts, according to the document, numbered more than £1.7million, with Andrew Kidd of Clintons Solicitors telling MailOnline in 2016: “There is obviously a lot of debt. This could relate to anything from mortgages to any kind of money owed.”

Sons ‘betrayed’

In 2017, it was reported that Michael and Robbie were to be left with just £50,000 each of their mother’s estate – with various outlets reporting they had been “betrayed” by their step-father.

Pattemore explained he had given the boys a flat worth £750,000 which they could rent out for a monthly income.

But Lynda’s son Michael Peluso argued: “It’s a kick in the teeth hearing about his hell when he’s sitting on around £5million of property, much of which was bought with our mum’s money.

“None of Mum’s family or friends will speak to him now.”

Discussing the flat they were gifted, Michael continued: “The flat has a £576,000 mortgage on it. Under the terms of the agreement, we have to sell it within two years. We aren’t allowed to live in it.

“It has tenants until next July and when we sell it, we have to pay Pattemore’s £30,000 capital gains tax. We owe our lawyers £60,000, so we’re looking at walking away with less than £50,000 each.”

Pattemore, meanwhile, branded the brothers “stupid” for beginning a legal process against him.

Cutting sons out of will

Both Lynda and husband Michael made a Traditional Will before her death – with Pattemore stipulating that the first £1million of his own estate, which they estimated Lynda had brought into their marriage, would be left to Robbie and Michael.

The contract also stipulated that any money left over would be shared equally between the Peluso brothers and Pattemore’s two biological children.

Pattemore said at the time: “We both wrote wills as a married couple and they mirrored each other in how we would leave our estate.”

However, after a lengthy legal battle, Lynda’s husband wrote her sons out of his own will, fuming: “They will get nothing from me.”

He told MailOnline: “I have not made the decision lightly, but they have made their position very clear by challenging the will and spreading stories about me.”

‘Not a gold-digger’

In an interview with The Mirror, Michael Pattemore insisted: “I wish the boys all the best, I honestly do from the bottom of my heart, but one person can only take so much.

“I’m sorry but how could I be splurging her sons’ inheritance? There was no money. Lynda was £50,000 in debt when she died.

“She had a £25,000 overdraft and the rest was spread over a number of credit cards. And I’m the one who’s got to pay them off now that we’ve finally been granted probate on her will.”

Lynda ‘heavily medicated’ when she wrote will

Lynda’s sons Michael and Robbie claim she was “heavily medicated” when she wrote the will leaving everything to her husband.

According to the pair, their mum was rushed to hospital for emergency surgery, when she was told she had a “50/50 chance of survival”.

Within two weeks of the incident, Lynda wrote a new will when she “may have been under heavy medication”, the Pelusos alleged.

Speaking on This Morning in 2016, they said: “I think she was a very trusting woman. She always saw the best in everyone. The advice she was given whatever that may have been, inheritance tax and things like that, she felt that what she was doing was the best by us.

“We have a very close unit around us of friends and family to look after us who have been there for us and we just wish there was a bit more faith put into them. I just wish that the decision, that we had our own choices to make…

“At the moment it’s difficult to say because we are not challenging the validity of the will.”

Son quit acting to become butler

Despite trying for “many years” to make it in the world of acting, Michael Peluso became a butler at one of London’s top hotels in 2020 – along with his brother Robbie.

The son of Loose Women star Lynda has “no regrets” about the move to The Savoy.

He explained on Loose Women: “I think [my mum] would be glad we’re together.

“She did a show at the Savoy theatre a way back. After the show she would go to the American bar and have a drink or two, and so there’s that connection as well.

“The first day I started, Tony the doorman shook my hand and mentioned Mum and said how they’d make sure she got home every evening in a taxi, and so I thanked him for that.”

READ MORE:

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk