It was a bit of a shocker on this season of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills when it was revealed that Lisa Vanderpump’s husband was not only previously married, but also had a son from that relationship! Adding an extra curveball into the mix was the fact that Ken’s son Warren wound up marrying Lisa’s good friend Sue Vanner, who was 16 years older than Warren at the time!
Ken explained: “Warren was a product of my first marriage which didn’t last very long. I had total custody of him from the age of two and I brought him up on my own.” But it is now being revealed that Pamela had a bigger role in Warren’s life than Ken’s statement would imply.
First, a little background info. Ken married Pamela, a model, when both were still teenagers. The two (seen together in the photo at the top of this post) were married for two years and had a son, Warren, when Ken was 21. After their split, Ken did get custody of Warren and was his caretaker, but Pamela remained close. She calls Warren “No 1 son” on Facebook and has visited him and his wife Lisa (more on her in a moment) at their home in Saint Tropez in the South of France. She talks with great pride about her grandson Ryan’s graduation from Exeter University last year, and was in attendance when he celebrated his 21st birthday.
^ Pamela Todd with her and Ken Todd’s son Warren
Lisa seemed to concede that Ken didn’t really go it alone when raising Warren with her Bravo blog post on February 25 about the episode featuring Warren. “As [Ken] explained he was married briefly for two years at 19, to a young wife who wasn’t prepared for the challenging job of being a mother,” Lisa wrote. “So he then fought for custody of their only child. He worked many jobs laboring, night jobs, anything to provide for his son, and, with the help of his mother, he raised an educated, well-mannered young man.”
Lisa goes on to praise her husband, who really does have an amazing and aspiring rags-to-riches-through-hard-work story. “Life was hard at the beginning. But with sheer tenacity and some sort of innovative business sense, he created a life for his family (including his parents) that otherwise they wouldn’t have had.” She does seemingly come back to defend Ken’s statements a little bit by graciously stating, “Warren is very much his fathers son — ambitious, incredibly family oriented, and someone to be proud of.”
^ Ken Todd poses with sons Warren and Max and grandson Ryan.
Lisa wasn’t always as complimentary of her stepson, however. Warren alienated both Ken and Lisa when he secretly began dating Lisa’s friend Sue Vanner, who was 16 years older than him, and eventually married her.
Lisa explains in her blog that “when Warren first met Sue, the 16 year age difference, the secrecy that had transpired, was not something we supported. But I learned a very valuable lesson, when our children make a choice, remember our opinions and influence are pretty much redundant. The intimacy between a couple supersedes the parental relationship and take heed — it is not a battle that is worth fighting. It took a while, a few years, that with hindsight was a complete waste of emotion. And now 26 years and a lovely grandson for Ken later, we would have to admit we were wrong.”
^ Sue Vanner as a sexy Bond Girl in The Spy Who Loved Me
Lisa also addressed whether or not she regretted doing the show, especially knowing that these sort of things from her past were bound to come up. “People have often asked me why I would sign up for a reality show as if it was some sort of sentence, but when I view episodes forever documented like this I rest assured that we made the right choice.” She later added, “I have to be frank, my family in England have not supported my choice to venture into this world. But there you have it. It has afforded me a plethora of opportunities and a smorgasbord of amazing challenges, and I wouldn’t change it for the world. I interact with you the viewer on Twitter and read your blogs, and I will say for the most part you are all incredibly kind, honest, and supportive.”
Lisa Vanner and Warren Todd (seen above from their appearance on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills) have been happily married now for more than two decades. Warren is a successful property developer and lives with Sue in London. (I guess they also have a home in Saint Tropez?) Their son Ryan is the same age, 21, as Lisa and Ken’s youngest son Max. Warren and Sue were both invited and were in attendance at Lisa and Ken’s daughter Pandora’s Beverly Hills wedding in 2011.
Ken’s ex-wife Pamela Todd also currently resides in London after living in Los Angeles and reportedly being in a relationship with 1960s UK singer Malcolm Roberts, who passed away in 2003 at the age of 58.
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
