Karen Millen refuses to get married.
The 60-year-old designer - whose eponymous brand and its sister fashion store Coast was bought out of administration by internet retailer Boohoo for £18 million in 2019 - has admitted she is not the "marrying type", which is why she has never gotten hitched to her partner of a decade, Ben Charnaud.
Speaking to the Daily Mail newspaper's Eden Confidential column, Karen insisted: "We've been together 10 years but we won't get married.
"I commit to someone and that's it — I don't have to prove it. Besides, most people I know who got married are now divorced.
"He did want to marry me, but he's resigned himself to the fact that I'm not the marrying type.
"I've never put a ring on it, and I don't intend to now."
Karen - who opened her first store in Maidstone, Kent, in 1983, and was declared bankrupt in 2017 - has three children with ex Kevin Stanford.
These days, Karen and Ben are business partners in their home brand, Homemonger.
Speaking when the new business venture was launched two years ago, she said: “I hope you feel inspired and continue to follow and share our vision.
“Of course it’s early days, but there’s so much more to offer, and no doubt some lessons to be learned.”
Karen Millen was co-founded by Karen and Kevin in 1981, and she is no longer involved in its operations.
