Carole Caplin
{{Short description|Health and wellness writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Carole Caplin
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1962|1|8}}
| image =
| occupation = Health and wellbeing consultant
| children =
| parents =
| website = [http://bowskillclinic.com/carole/ bowskillclinic.com/carole/]
}}
Carole Caplin (born 8 January 1962){{cite news|first=Nick |last=Curtis |title=So who really is who? |date=9 January 2004 |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-8522903-details/So+who+%3Ci%3Ereally%3Ci%3E+is+who/article.do |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130505140256/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-8522903-details/So+who+%3Ci%3Ereally%3Ci%3E+is+who/article.do |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 May 2013 |work=Evening Standard |accessdate=1 September 2004 }} is a British former health consultant, who was the style adviser to Cherie Blair and a fitness adviser to Tony Blair, when he was the British prime minister.{{cite news | first=Emma | last=Brockes | title=Gym'll fix it | date=9 January 2006 | url =https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/jan/09/broadcasting.pressandpublishing | work =The Guardian | accessdate =13 May 2008 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/sep/01/tony-blair-error-carole-caplin |title=Tony Blair admits error of judgment over Carole Caplin |author=Helen Pidd |work=The Guardian |date=1 September 2010 |accessdate=1 September 2010}} She sparked media interest because of her relationship with the convicted conman Peter Foster.
Early life
Caplin and her elder sister were brought up by her mother, Sylvia, of Jewish descent, who was a ballet dancer with the Festival Ballet until a car crash ended her dancing career. Her mother divorced her father, a furrier, when Caplin was a toddler.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/may/13/david-vincent-carole-caplin-cherie |title=Carole Caplin interview: "I'm a survivor" |author=David Vincent |work=The Observer |date=13 May 2012 |accessdate=15 May 2012}} Caplin was educated at Glendower, a private school in South Kensington, Lillsden School for Girls, a boarding school in Kent, and Hurlingham and Chelsea Secondary School.{{cite news |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/es-magazine-fashion/article-23681501-carry-on-carole.do |title=Carry On Carole |author=Annabel Rivkin |series=ES magazine |work=Evening Standard |date=27 April 2009 |accessdate=1 September 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120103104916/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/es-magazine-fashion/article-23681501-carry-on-carole.do |archive-date=3 January 2012 |url-status=dead}}
She appeared as a child actor in the film Accident (1967),{{IMDb name|0135264}} and in television advertisements. In 1980 she became a member of the burlesque pop band Shock.
She had a relationship with Adam Ant in 1981.[https://books.google.com/books?id=M1Kh3hijIOgC&dq=adam+ant+stand+and+deliver+%22carole+caplin+who+worked+with+a+troupe+called+shock%22&pg=PT216 Stand and Deliver - My Autobiography Adam Ant, Sedgwick & Jackson 2006 p216] The two met up again in 1983, on which occasion Ant reports that Caplin tried to recruit him to Exegesis.[https://books.google.com/books?id=M1Kh3hijIOgC&dq=adam+ant+stand+and+deliver+carole+caplin&pg=PT268 Ant op. cit. p268] The pair had further contact around 1995.[https://books.google.com/books?id=M1Kh3hijIOgC&dq=adam+ant+stand+and+deliver+%22being+in+contact+with+carole+caplin+again%22&pg=PT352 Ant op. cit. p352]
Career
According to The Observer, during the 1980s Caplin worked for the telemarketing company Programmes Ltd, and became involved in the related Exegesis alternative therapy programme. Later Caplin set up a series of health and well-being companies.{{cite news |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0,6903,1046462,00.html |title=Cult taught Cherie's guru to confront demons |author=Jamie Doward and Ben Whitford |work=The Observer |date=21 September 2003 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20030923055532/http://observer.guardian.co.uk/politics/story/0%2C6903%2C1046462%2C00.html |archivedate=23 September 2003 |url-status=dead}}
Caplin has written a number of health and well-being books,[http://www.google.com/search?tbs=bks:1&tbo=p&q=+inauthor:%22Carole+Caplin%22&source=gbs_metadata_r&cad=3 Carole Caplin], Google Books] and appeared in several television programmes, including presenting her own Channel 4 programme The Carole Caplin Treatment.
Cheriegate
In 2002, Caplin hit the newspaper headlines in the scandal referred to as "Cheriegate"{{cite news | first=Nick | last=Assinder | title=Can Blair end "Cheriegate"? | date=10 December 2002 | url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2562155.stm | work =BBC News | accessdate =13 May 2008 }} because of her involvement with Peter Foster, an Australian with criminal convictions,{{Cite news| last=Brown | first=Malcolm | authorlink=Malcolm Brown (Australian journalist)| title=A few inconvenient untruths | date=6 January 2007 | work=The Age| url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/a-few-inconvenient-untruths/2007/01/05/1167777281503.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1 | location=Melbourne}}[https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2002/dec/06/uk.cherieblair1 Serial fraudster who keeps bouncing back], Jeevan Vasagar, The Guardian, 6 December 2002, Retrieved 27 May 2009[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2574515.stm The man behind Cherie's 'regret'], BBC News, 14 December 2002, Retrieved 25 May 2009 who assisted the Prime Minister's wife, Cherie Blair, in the purchase of two flats in Bristol. Cherie Blair tried to distance herself from Foster and briefed the press office at 10 Downing Street to make a public statement claiming that Foster was not involved with the deal. She was caught out when Foster provided evidence that she had lied.{{cite news |author=Lucy Cockcroft, Andy Bloxham |title=Cherie Blair: My rift with Alistair Campbell |date=13 May 2008 |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/1950699/Cherie-Blair-My-rift-with-Alistair-Campbell.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080517045001/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/politics/labour/1950699/Cherie-Blair-My-rift-with-Alistair-Campbell.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 May 2008 |work=The Daily Telegraph |accessdate=13 May 2008}} She then made a public apology, tearfully reading a prepared statement blaming her "misfortune" on the pressures of running a family and being a mother. She again tried to distance herself from Foster, but it was later revealed that she and Tony Blair had agreed to be godparents to the yet-to-be born child of Caplin (Caplin later miscarried).[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2563649.stm "Cherie says 'sorry' for Foster dealings"], BBC News, 10 December 2002
''Daily Mail'' libel case
In 2010 Caplin started libel proceedings against the Daily Mail for a newspaper article that suggested that Caplin might have been considering selling the story of her time with the Blairs and to "blow the lid on Tony and Cherie Blair’s sex secrets".{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8540077/Carole-Caplin-I-didnt-sleep-with-Tony-Blair.html |title=Carole Caplin: I didn't sleep with Tony Blair |author=Steven Swinford |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=26 May 2011 |accessdate=27 May 2011}} It was announced on 1 November 2011 that Caplin has accepted "substantial" damages from the newspaper for the false claims the Mail had made.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15537612 "Blair adviser Carole Caplin wins Daily Mail libel damages"], BBC News, 1 November 2011
''News of the World'' phone-hacking target
On 1 November 2011 Caplin announced that the Metropolitan Police had told her that her mobile phone had probably been hacked on the instructions of the News of the World. Caplin's spokesman stated that, "Dating from 2002, Ms Caplin's is one of the earliest cases so far discovered and the police investigation has yet to uncover all the available evidence. Once she is able to establish the extent of this invasion of her privacy, Ms Caplin will decide what further action to take."{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/01/phone-hacking-carole-caplin |title=Phone hacking: Carole Caplin told she was target |author=James Robinson |work=The Guardian |date=1 November 2011 |accessdate=1 November 2011}}
Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former communications director, told the Leveson inquiry that it was "at least possible" that press stories about Cherie Blair had been obtained by hacking Caplin's phone, and he had apologised to Caplin that he had earlier accused her of tipping off newspapers.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/nov/30/alastair-campbell-cherie-blair-leveson |title=Alastair Campbell: phone hacking 'possibly' revealed Cherie Blair's pregnancy |author=Lisa O'Carroll |work=The Guardian |date=30 November 2011 |accessdate=15 May 2012}}