With his background as a vintage car salesman from Essex and his love of lads’ holidays and football, Sam Palmer has always had something of a macho image.
Bernie Ecclestone’s son-in-law has, however, just made a surprising revelation: that he’s undergoing a health treatment more commonly associated with middle-aged women.
Sam, 42, who is married to the billionaire Formula 1 tycoon’s daughter Petra, 36, is having hormone replacement therapy after being told his testosterone levels were that of a man twice his age.
He says he spent years feeling tired and sluggish before discovering the cause.
‘I used to always have naps – I was always tired,’ he admits. ‘Even when I was at school, I used to go home after school and have a quick nap before I go out again.
‘I had my testosterone checked and they said it’s about that of an 80-year-old man,’ explains Palmer, who now has slow-release testosterone pellets inserted by a doctor every six months to correct the imbalance.
‘I’ve been having these pellets – you can have injections, you can have cream, but I have these injections.
‘So they cut me open and put in these slow releasing pellets and you do it every six months.’
‘I had my testosterone checked and they said it’s about that of an 80-year-old man,’ explains Pictured: Sam (left) and Petra (right)
He credits the treatment for transforming his health.
‘I trained in the gym my whole life and never lost weight,’ he says. ‘Since I’ve done this, I’ve lost 53lb.
‘Obviously, I’ve changed my diet as well, with less sugar and things like that. But this allowed me to lose weight. It dropped off of me.
‘Now I actually find it hard to put on weight, which is really different.’
Sam and Petra split their time between a £32 million home in Los Angeles and a £175 million mega-mansion in Chelsea, west London.
Julia Fox reveals a very quirky sense of style
Julia Fox seen attending the Liberatum Cultural Honour Gala honouring Chief Raoni at CE LA VI London on October 15, 2025 in London
Kim Kardashian revealed this week that she had stayed single since her ‘toxic’ eight-year marriage to Kanye West.
Now, actress Julia Fox tells me she’s been celibate for more than three-and-a-half years since her own, brief, relationship with the US rapper, 48.
‘Being celibate is empowering, but I would like to start dating again,’ Julia, 35, tells me at the Liberatum Cultural Honour Gala at CÉ LA VI London.
Wearing a pinstriped custom gown – undone to her hips – and hat designed by Robert Wun, she adds: ‘I’d absolutely be open to meeting a nice, funny Englishman with a good sense of humour — but when you’ve been out of the game for a while, it’s easier said than done.’
She met Brazilian environmentalist Chief Raoni, 93, who earlier had an emotional reunion with King Charles at St James’s Palace.
Priyanka dazzles in red one-off
While her old friend the Duchess of Sussex made a song and dance about attending Paris Fashion Week, Priyanka Chopra has been quietly winning the style stakes in London.
The Indian actress and former Miss World made a striking appearance at The Dorchester to celebrate fashion designer Rahul Mishra’s collaboration with Johnnie Walker Blue Label whisky.
Priyanka, 43, wore a dazzling red, saree-inspired one-shoulder gown featuring a very long train.
Priyanka Chopra attends an evening celebration hosted by Johnnie Walker Blue Label with Designer & Collaborator Rahul Mishra with special guest Priyanka Chopra Jonas at The Dorchester on October 15, 2025 in London
The piece took more than 2,700 hours of work by 14 skilled artisans.
The dramatic ensemble pays homage to the spirit of India’s festive season ahead of Diwali next Monday.
Stones guitarist and keen painter Ronnie Wood impressed fans when he recreated Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee after thieves snatched it from a museum in the US.
He has had to deal with art thieves himself. ‘In my early days, I had a lot of art stuff stolen,’ he tells me at London’s Mall Galleries.
‘With all the confusion of moving around, being on tour, you take your eyes off stuff for a minute, and it’s gone.’
Pop singer Mick Hucknall was simply red with anger when a concert-goer made too much noise at his Wembley show last weekend, telling him to ‘shut it’.
But he has been even firmer with other disruptive fans. ‘I was with Mick in Cuba, and a guy tried to get on the stage,’ music producer Andy Wright tells me at a performance by singer Miel de Botton, who will be a support act on Simply Red’s 40th Anniversary Tour show.
‘Mick was a bit shocked and drop-kicked him back into the audience.’
Wogan restaurant’s roasting from Food Standards Agency
Sir Terry Wogan’s sons, Mark and Alan, hoped to earn a crust with their pizza restaurants Homeslice.
A recent visit to their City of London branch by inspectors will, however, have left a bitter taste.
I can reveal it was given a zero-star (out of five) hygiene rating by the Food Standards Agency.
It slammed the ‘management of food safety’ as well as the ‘cleanliness and condition of the facilities and building’.
For hygienic food handling, an ‘improvement necessary’ warning was issued.
The Wogans launched Homeslice in 2013.
All but two of their six branches have closed, including the White City outlet at the site of the old BBC studios, spiritual home of their father, who died in 2016.
The restaurant declined to comment.
