People News
Sting and Trudie's ex chef dishes unsavory stew
By Stone Martindale
Mar 8, 2007, 1:09 GMT

Trudie Styler and Sting have several posh homes, and a large staff that attend to their daily lives.  One of their longtime employees has exposed their lifestyle, and has alleged mistreatment and is fighting back in English employment hearings, according to the Daily Mail.

Chef Jane Martin worked for Sting and Trudie for eight years at their 800-acre property in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Martin alleges that Sting's staff live in a fearful environment because his wife's delusions of royal grandeur, the complaint heard at an employment tribunal.

Martin claims Trudie Styler fired her for pregnancy issues and is claiming damages for unfair dismissal and sexual discrimination, reports The Daily Mail.

Martin revealed to the Daily Mail she bought "truffles by motorcycle dispatch from France and travelled 100 miles just to make soup for Miss Styler."

The chef claims that the "flamboyant lifestyle" of the couple rewarded her with expensive birthday gifts of posh jewelry, cashmere sweaters and scarves.

Martin became pregnant at the age of 39, reports The Daily Mail, and she "suddenly fell from grace" and was forced out of her employment last April.

The Winchester native told the employment tribunal that employees were "entirely driven by fear of Trudie Styler" - and that Styler "erupted with fury after the chef fell ill with gastroenteritis just months after she became pregnant," so heard the tribunal in Southampton.

Allegedly Styler ranted about Martin: "Who the **** does she think she is? She's my chef in the UK. She needs to be available if I need her, or she should rethink her position."

Martin told the hearing: "I believe that the redundancy process was a sham, commissioned by Trudie Styler. I am the only member of staff who made a point of standing up to Trudie.

"Most members of staff made the mistake of trying to ingratiate themselves, which results in them demeaning themselves and Trudie picking on them. Their behaviour is entirely driven by fear of Trudie Styler."

She told the hearing: "The Lake House "management" was never going to expose itself to Trudie's gratuitous abuse by suggesting to her that she would be ill-served by losing me.

"My strategy was to dissuade her by making it too much effort, in the hope that she would go back to picking on those she found more conducive to making her feel royal," according to the Daily Mail.

Martin claims she worked 14 hours a day while graven with child in the later term of her pregnancy.

Boss and overseer of the help, Andrew Bowling of Lake House Estate, the company which runs the 800-acre property in Salisbury, Wiltshire - denied discrimination to the Daily Mail.

Bowling said to the Mail: "The Sumners played no part in this process and gave no instructions at the time...This is an opportunistic claim. Because the Sumners are famous and wealthy, she would like a relative sum of that wealth."

The hearing will continue as no resolution has been determined yet, reported The Daily Mail.