Former rock star’s wife now on welfare ‘cannot pay wages to ex-staff’

KARLA ELLIOTT has experienced a rollercoaster existence which has seen the former model experience the glamour lifestyle of being a rock star’s wife to the lows of suffering divorce, relationship breakdowns and bereavement.

The full extent of the dramatic change in the personal circumstances of the dark-haired beauty and former wife of Def Leppard frontman Joe Elliott was laid bare yesterday as a result of a hearing of the Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) in Dublin.

Elliott is being pursued for outstanding wages she owes to a former employee who worked at the beauty salon she owned in Churchtown before its closure in January 2009.

Customers and staff of Sanas Beauty Salon contacted RTÉ’s Liveline programme at the time to express their anger at Elliott’s decision to close the business without any notice, especially as employees were left without wages and vouchers and package deals were still being sold up to the time of its closure.

Elliott had bought the business from the parents of Fran Cosgrave, a nightclub owner and reality TV star, a few years earlier.

However, it ran into financial difficulty and its fate was sealed as a result of the recession that engulfed the country in early 2009.

Yesterday, the EAT issued an order which compels Elliott to pay more than €1,200 in outstanding wages to a former staff member because of her failure to comply with an earlier ruling by a rights commissioner to fulfil her duties as an employer.

It is believed a number of other workers at Sanas are also considering similar actions against Elliott.

Although she did not appear before the hearing yesterday, the mother-of-one has told former staff that she is “embarrassed” by her financial situation and is unable to pay them any money owed in wages.

In a letter written last February, Elliott pleaded that she was unemployed and relying on social welfare payments as a single parent for income.

Elliott also claimed she had been placed on the housing list by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, although she expressed little hope of being provided with accommodation because of lengthy waiting lists.

She also revealed she had sought help and advice from MABS — the state-run budgetary advice service.

Elliott’s current circumstances make a striking contrast with the lavish lifestyle she once enjoyed when she and Joe Elliott were one of the golden couples on Dublin’s social scene during their 12-year marriage that ended in divorce in 1997.

The pair featured regularly in the social diary pages of newspapers as they attended a host of celebrity parties and functions.

The couple resided in a luxurious 7,000sq ft home on the exclusive Vico Road in Killiney where other music stars like Bono, Van Morrison and Lisa Stansfield were close neighbours.

Subsequently, she enjoyed a string of other high-profile relationships, including with celebrity chef, Conrad Gallagher, Texan millionaire David Doane and nightclub security manager, Dave Walsh, whose is the father of her 11-year-old daughter, Emily Jade.

Elliott, whose maiden name is Ramdhanie, is the daughter of an Irish mother and Indian father who grew up in Walkinstown.

Her entry into the world of modelling began when she was approached by a talent scout while walking down Grafton Street with her mother and she quickly established herself as a popular model with clients for glossy photoshoots.

It was through modelling that she got to know Elliott and the couple began dating in 1986.

Sadly, Elliott’s story mirrors the fortunes of another one-time high flyer — the actress and TV presenter, Annabel Giles, the ex-wife of another rock star, Ultravox’s Midge Ure.

She also recently documented how she is now living in a council flat in England and is dependent on social welfare payments.