EDEN CONFIDENTIAL: Now Jools Oliver has the recipe for success after £2m label sale

Jamie Oliver forked out a huge £25million of his personal wealth as he desperately tried to rescue his restaurant chain before it collapsed into administration in 2019.So the TV chef, 51, could perhaps now learn a thing or two about money-making from his wife of 26 years, Jools.For I can disclose that Jools, also 51, has sold her children’s clothing brand, Little Bird, to High Street giant Next.The fashion retailer has paid Jools, who has five children, a tasty £2.3million for the label.That’s £800,000 more than the £1.5million dividend Jools had to share with Jamie from his private company, Jamie Oliver Group.And that dividend was more than 40 per cent down on last year’s, after profits at their cookery and media empire had almost halved.Marketed as a ‘nostalgic, inclusive lifestyle brand that your kids will love to wear’, Little Bird was launched by Jools in 2012.Next, which already sells Little Bird clothes and accessories, describes it as being ‘influenced by Jools’ own happy childhood’. But some of Little Bird’s clothes have also been influenced by heartbreak – after Jools suffered five miscarriages. She created a Little Bird collection of ‘My Rainbow Baby’ bodysuits at Mothercare in support of maternity and baby charity Tommy’s, to raise awareness of baby loss.Jools declines to comment on her windfall, but documents filed at Companies House report that she resigned this week as director of Jools Enterprises Ltd, through which she channels much of her earnings. Its address is now registered at Next’s head office in Leicestershire. Next executive and acquisition chief Jeremy Stakol has been appointed as a director.Is the King resorting to drastic measures to avoid being haunted by ghosts of unwanted royals such as his brother, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor? I ask only because Charles held talks at Balmoral on Tuesday with a priest who carries out exorcisms. Cardinal Ernest Simoni, 97, is an Albanian survivor of communist persecution who practises deliverance and solemn exorcism prayers. Next, which already sells Little Bird clothes and accessories, describes it as being ‘influenced by Jools’ own happy childhood’MasterChef Thomasina boogies through painMasterchef winner Thomasina Miers is dancing through the pain of chemotherapy.The television star and co-founder of Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca revealed in July that she’s undergone a mastectomy following a shock breast cancer diagnosis.Now halfway through her gruelling treatment, Thomasina, 50, admits: ‘I find the nausea the worst, but my wonderful doctors are tweaking the drugs and I am finding out about lots of things to take to help on the side. As for the fatigue, my method is to meet it head on. Sleep when I can, dance when I can, walk when I can, nap when I can.‘I keep thinking how it’s people, nature and love that get us through our days.’ The television star and co-founder of Mexican restaurant chain Wahaca revealed in July that she’s undergone a mastectomy following a shock breast cancer diagnosisAs Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield was used to hanging off tall buildings. But in real life, the actor was so high on drugs at an American theme park that he felt an adventure ride was descending into hell.Garfield, 43, had taken a marijuana-laced sweet, which is legal in California, before boarding a 3D ride at Universal Resorts in Los Angeles with a friend.Candidly describing the experience as ‘just horrible’, he says: ‘We came out, both of us [were ill] and I was worse. Not pleasant in any way. I was too high, and I was too dizzy.’Alex Jones has interviewed everyone from Prince William to Robert De Niro during her 16 years co-presenting The One Show, but her highlight was an incident behind the scenes.‘It was the best news ever when I was told Stephen Fry and Sheridan Smith got stuck in a lift,’ she trills at the Royal Television Society Futures event celebrating 20 years of the BBC programme.‘I love it when things go slightly wrong sometimes. That live element is exciting. That’s why we all love it. It’s just funny, isn’t it?’Let’s hope Fry and Smith found it equally amusing. Joanne Froggatt, who plays the wife of Hardy’s character, insists Tom Hardy is a ‘great teammate’Tom, tardy? His MobLand wife Jo says he’s greatRelations between Dame Helen Mirren and Tom Hardy became ‘extremely strained’ while filming MobLand’s second series, my colleague Katie Hind revealed this year.Sources told her Dame Helen had become ‘increasingly frustrated’ at Hardy’s attitude and took a dim view of his alleged tardiness when it came to turning up on the set of the Paramount+ gangster thriller.Now, however, Joanne Froggatt, who plays the wife of Hardy’s character, insists the actor is a ‘great teammate’. The former Downton Abbey star, 46, says: ‘I love my scenes with him. He cares so much about the characters and the story ... and making it as good as we possibly can.’