KATIE HIND: I watched aghast as Charlotte Church's freeloading posse fleeced her in a nightclub when she was just 18. I'm not surprised she's burned through her £25m fortune

As she studied an itemised drinks bill at one of London’s most exclusive nightclubs, Charlotte Church was not happy.

The receipt, the length one would expect from a family’s weekly supermarket shop, was mostly made up of drinks that her boyfriend Kyle Johnson’s friends had racked up, swigging vodka cocktails, which even back then – 20 years ago – cost at least £15 a pop.

As she went through it, marking off with a biro pen what wasn’t hers, the Welsh singer angrily declared: ‘I’m going to make sure they pay.’

Only they didn’t.

Some minutes later I watched, aghast, as Charlotte summoned the waiter in the VIP area of Cirque nightclub in London’s Leicester Square and, her face like thunder, paid the lot on her credit card.

Charlotte singing in the Voices Of A Nation concert in Cardiff at the age of 14 in 1999

‘They just expect me to pay,’ Charlotte, then aged just 18, complained. The group, she told me, had travelled from Cardiff to London with Johnson, a trainee hotel manager and Charlotte’s second proper boyfriend, intent on a big night out – at her expense. Clearly, it wasn’t the first time it had happened.

That was in 2004, seven years after she catapulted to fame in 1997, aged 11, thanks to her ethereal, soprano voice, which was discovered when she sang Pie Jesu over the phone to ITV’s This Morning programme. At the height of her fame, she was said to be worth £25million.

Fast-forward 20 years, and last week Charlotte sensationally declared that most of the money has gone. ‘I’m not a millionaire any more,’ she said.

Now 38, a mother of three, and married to music producer Jonathan Powell, she made the shock revelation in an interview, saying: ‘I haven’t got a lot of money. I’ve got enough to be comfortable if I was reasonable for the rest of my life, but I’m not reasonable, so I will have to find a way to sustain my lifestyle.’

Her admission comes a year after it was revealed she’d sold her £1.5million home in the Vale of Glamorgan, to downsize to a semi-detached house nearby.

Last year, she launched her latest venture, a retreat called The Dreaming, just outside the remote market town of Rhayader, Powys. There, paying guests are offered the opportunity to connect with nature and undergo a ‘digital detox and cleanse’. Although it’s early days, the business has yet to make a profit, with net liabilities of £551,000. So where did all the money go?

While the ‘hangers-on’ that flocked around her throughout her wild teenage years definitely played a part, Charlotte’s fortune was also chipped away by management disputes, business ventures, broken relationships and the profligacy of her own family. 

She certainly made no secret of how she was pressured by her father to keep working and add to her fortune while she could. She said: ‘When I made money, I did say to my dad when I was 14: “I’m not sure about this showbiz stuff. I’m not really having a good time” and he was like, “Just stick at it as we don’t get these opportunities.”

While Charlotte didn’t ever move to the capital, she would often travel there for big nights out

‘I did get to a stage in my teenage years, about 16 or 17, when I was like, “I don’t know if I can do this s*** any more.”’

It all appears to be quite the sorry scenario for Charlotte, who was born in the Cardiff enclave of Llandaff to mother Maria and father Stephen Reed. Her parents split up when she was two, and Maria went on to marry James Church, who adopted Charlotte and she took his surname. After her sensational appearance on This Morning, she was immediately signed up by savvy showbusiness agent Jonathan Shalit.

He secured her a lucrative music deal at Sony and her debut album Voice Of An Angel, released in November 1998, sold millions across the world. She became one of the most talked-about child stars on the planet.

She added to her fortune with lucrative private gigs for the rich and famous: she performed for Pope John Paul II, the late Queen and former US President Bill Clinton. She went on to launch a pop career and also hosted a chat show on Channel 4, The Charlotte Church Show.

While she was still not old enough to hold a driving licence, let alone understand the wranglings of high finance, all of Charlotte’s fortune and career were still very much left to her parents and her management company.

In 2000, however, there was a very bitter and expensive court battle with former manager Shalit, after he was sensationally sacked by Charlotte’s mother. He’d been claiming £4million of the teenager’s earnings, and the parties were heading for the High Court before settling with a compensation package thought to be worth £2million.

She couldn’t access her fortune until she was 18, but when she finally did the singer did not hold back and stated she would buy a £1million ruby-encrusted bra to mark the occasion. While it isn’t known whether she made the purchase or not, she certainly lived the high life, with those closest to her joining her for the ride.

One associate who worked with Charlotte at the time said: ‘The problem Charlotte had was that she wanted to spend time with her boyfriend and her friends who she grew up with but she had far more money than them.

‘So she would treat them, pay for them to go to the nice places and do the nice things, whether it was a night out in London or a holiday abroad.

‘She was kind with it, but you have to look back now and wonder if she was far, far too generous.’

It didn’t stop at nightclub outings. In July 2004 Charlotte took a group of friends to Ibiza where they stayed at a £25,000-per-week villa and she employed a full-time driver and bodyguard.

But it was the number of men throwing themselves at her that became her weak spot.

First was model and DJ Steven Johnson, said to be a ‘nice boy’, although Charlotte’s mother did not approve. Early in their romance, Charlotte splashed out £400,000 on a penthouse apartment on the picturesque Cardiff Bay so they could have some ‘alone time’.

When they split up after a year together, she moved on to ‘bad boy’ Kyle Johnson. The pair spent two years partying at some of London’s most expensive nightspots.

While Charlotte didn’t ever move to the capital, she would regularly travel there for big nights out, all funded by her. Another property purchase followed, this time a £500,000 Edwardian four-bedroom house close to her mum’s.

When she dumped Kyle after a series of rows, he sold his story to the tabloid newspaper News Of The World just days later, where he revealed intimate details about their sex life.

The singer in 2004 with then boyfriend Kyle Johnson, who later sold his story of their sex life to the News Of The World

Friends say that Charlotte felt ‘used’ by him and a few days after his kiss-and-tell was published it was reported that Charlotte allegedly punched him after spotting him in a restaurant.

In 2009, he was jailed for 12 years after £10 million-worth of heroin was found in his home. Charlotte’s next big romance was with Welsh rugby heartthrob Gavin Henson, and they were soon dubbed the ‘Welsh Posh and Becks’. Their lifestyle reflected their nickname. They bought an £800,000 yacht, which they moored in Swansea Marina, and would regularly indulge in wild parties.

Until, that was, Charlotte became pregnant with their daughter Ruby, now 16. Son Dexter followed two years later, but the relationship with Henson didn’t last, and they split up in 2010.

Church says the separation, just six weeks after they had announced their engagement, was mutual.

‘We split for really normal reasons,’ she said. ‘There was never any professional jealousy. We tried to make things work... but our house had been turning into an unhappy one.’

Charlotte outside the mansion in central Wales which is now a wellness retreat

She bought Gavin a five-bedroom property so that he could live closer to their children.

By 2010, Charlotte’s wealth had dropped to £11million and she said in a documentary: ‘I will have to work for the rest of my life, not because I want to but because I have to. The tax man is looking at my accounts wondering where I’m hiding all my money.’

Meanwhile, Charlotte met musician Jonathan Powell and they began dating in late 2010. She bought their family home in Twyncyn, Dynas Powis, setting her back another £1.3million. They married in 2017 and in 2020 she gave birth to their first child together, Frida.

One friend said: ‘Charlotte was by far the breadwinner in all of her relationships, even with Gavin who played for Wales. And that makes you vulnerable. She spent a lot of money on these men, it was sad to watch. While she wasn’t down a mine, she did lose a lot of her childhood to her career. Those are years she won’t get back. It seems like a dreadful shame.’

It wasn’t just the men in Charlotte’s life who were the beneficiaries of her fortune – her parents also appeared to live their daughter’s dream alongside her.

One friend of the star said: ‘Maria and James lived a good life off the back of Charlotte’s hard work. That isn’t necessarily unusual but it might explain where some of the money went.’

For now, although living a more humble life, Charlotte seems content – with a happy marriage, teenagers, a toddler and her new business venture

It was Maria who accompanied Charlotte to the This Morning studios back in 1997 and she was said to have taken a ‘huge interest’ in her daughter’s career. And there were benefits from it, too.

In 2003, when Charlotte was 17, Maria and James opened a hotel in the centre of Cardiff, which they named ‘Church’.

A year later they bought a share in the nearby Robin Hood pub where Charlotte later met Powell.

‘Maria and James loved all the attention,’ says a friend of the star. ‘Charlotte would often pop into the pub and sing on the karaoke machine and it would become very public. Maria and James lived like celebrities.

‘They were A-listers in Cardiff – everyone knew who they were. They would socialise a lot, visiting lots of nice bars and restaurants.’

In 2006, Maria raised eyebrows when she invested hundreds of thousands of pounds to open an exclusive designer clothes and shoe shop called Chiesa – the Italian word for Church.

They chose one of Cardiff’s most sought-after areas, Pontcanna, as it was high-end and ‘fabulous’ as one former associate put it.

‘It was a real status symbol for Maria to have that shop, but it didn’t last. She would fly off abroad to buy stock – a lot of money must have been wasted.’

For now, although living a more humble life, Charlotte seems content – with a happy marriage, teenagers, a toddler and her new business venture.

One can only hope that the Welsh ‘wild child’, with the voice of an angel, has finally grown up, free of the millions and the empty trappings of fame they can bring.