Bridezilla behaviour blamed for breakup

Fairfax Media

IT'S OVER: Jarret Stoll has walked out on Kiwi model Rachel Hunter just two months before they were due to marry.

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Rachel Hunter's "princess complex" is being blamed for toy-boy fiance Jarret Stoll's 11th-hour decision to pull the plug on their fairytale wedding.

Fans were stunned when news broke the Canadian-born professional ice hockey player had emailed guests just seven weeks before the ceremony to tell them it was off.

And now sources are claiming not only did the Los Angeles Kings star get cold feet over the age gap with the Kiwi supermodel, he is said to have become frustrated by the former TipTop ice-cream girl's bridezilla behaviour.

During the 12 months of planning into the mum-of-two's second wedding, Rachel is said to have changed the venue seven times before deciding on a palatial hotel overlooking the Pacific in northern California.

Her indecision over the finer details reportedly led to a last-minute change of pudding strawberry pavlova which she planned to joke with guests was just like her, hard on the outside and soft in the middle.

Rachel is believed to have negotiated a six-figure deal with a celebrity magazine to cover the glitzy event, to have been attended by a Who's Who of A-listers, including Michelle Pfeiffer and Sharon Stone.

"It's all come as a massive shock but a few of her friends have been trying to warn her she shouldn't have waited so long to marry Jarret," British newspaper the Daily Mail quoted a friend of Rachel's as saying.

"They've been engaged since last August and a year gives a man enough time to have second thoughts.

"The past 12 months has been nothing but wedding planners, cakes, dresses, venues.

"Rachel kept changing her mind about every aspect of it. I think she wanted it to be just right."

Sources close to Jarret were said to have claimed he also became "majorly freaked" by the idea Rachel will turn 40 in September, when he has only just celebrated his 27th birthday.

There are also rumours that, despite Rachel's words to the contrary, Jarret's relationship with her children by rocker Rod Stewart Renee, 17, and Liam, 15 had taken a turn for the worse.

Added pressure came from the pin-up's excited baby talk.

"Jarret will make an incredible dad," Rachel reportedly said last month at a party in New York.

"He's a good person. He's got a great sense of humour and gets on really well with my kids."

British media suggest Rachel's devastation over being ditched before making it to the altar is compounded by the fact she hoped her marriage to Jarret would send a message to Rod she was finally over their 1999 break-up.

"Rachel has spent most of the past 10 years trying to define herself as someone other than just another of the many blonde former wives and girlfriends of Rod Stewart," a source told the Daily Mail.

"Because Jarret is well known in his own right in the US, she thought the marriage would help her move out of Rod's shadow, but it was not to be."

It's also suggested Jarret, who recently signed a $23 million four-year deal with Los Angeles Kings, would provide Rachel with financial security.

When she divorced Rod she is believed to have got just $13 million of his $260 million fortune.

Her personal income comes from her clothing deal with The Warehouse and her Lola swimwear range as well as endorsements, reality TV and movie roles.

- © Fairfax NZ News