The Rapper and the Rothschild

It’s a classic love story—a British banking heiress starts an independent rap label, meets and falls for a charismatic underground hip hop artist, leaves her financier husband to be with rapper, with both airing their grievances over Twitter.

Allow me to break this down: Kate Rothschild of the illustrious Rothschild banking dynasty has reportedly left her husband of nine years, Ben Goldsmith for rapper Jay Electronica. The couple has three children.

Rothschild met Electronica, whose real name is Timothy E. Thedford and is father to one of Erykah Badu’s children, the old-fashioned way—through her Roundtable Records rap label. Though Electronica is signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, he is represented by Rothschild in England. Fittingly, Electronica has rapped about “brunch with the Rothschilds/dinner with the Carters,” referring of course, not to Jimmy and Rosalynn, but to Jay-Z and Beyoncé, a different sort of first family.

The Goldsmith’s lineage is nothing to sneeze at, either. Ben’s father, the late James Goldsmith, was a billionaire financier and his brother, Zac, is a Tory MP, who also happens to be living with Kate’s sister, Alice, which only serves to further complicate the situation. (Next time, might I suggest that the Goldsmith men take to online dating in order to find a woman outside of their family and in-law circle.)

When Goldsmith, 31, learned about his wife’s alleged affair with Electronica via incriminating emails and texts, he confronted her. The police were called to the house in response to a disturbance and arrested him for slapping his wife. He accepted a “caution” for this action. He then filed divorce on the grounds of adultery.

Most of the drama has played out not in the privacy of their home but in the public square. And by that, I mean Twitter. The two traded barbs and accusations over the social networking site. The British tabloids have begun dubbing this the “first Twitter divorce.” (The Daily Mail has collected and organized all of the tweets.)

The couple has since issued a joint statement, expressing regret for having been so public with the demise of their relationship. Even without additional tweets, there seems to enough out there to make a movie-
of-the-week. Has anyone bought the rights to this story yet? If not, I’ve got twenty bucks and an iPhone.