Estranged wife of German tycoon tells divorce court judge she can't find a hairdresser in England
The estranged wife of a wealthy German businessman has told a divorce court judge how she cannot find a “very good hairdresser” in England despite moving to London nearly two years ago.
Clarissa Pierburg said she still sometimes visited a hairdresser nearly 300 miles away in Dusseldorf, Germany.
She outlined her problem to Mr Justice Moor after being embroiled in a dispute with Jurgen Pierburg following the breakdown of their 35-year marriage.
Mr and Mrs Pierburg are fighting about where they should divorce.
Mr Justice Moor is overseeing a trial in the Family Division of the High Court in London and is expected to finish analysing evidence and legal argument later this week.
He has heard that both Mr and Mrs Pierburg are German and had lived in Switzerland.
Mrs Pierburg, who is in her 60s, says she now lives in London and wants to divorce in England.
Mr Pierburg, who is in his 70s, wants to divorce in Germany.
The judge has heard that the marriage broke down after Mr Pierburg admitted having an affair in late 2016.
He was told that the Pierburgs had lived in a chateau about an hour from Geneva.
Mrs Pierburg said, when living in Switzerland, she had been in the habit of flying to Dusseldorf to get her hair done.
She said she would visit her mother at the same time.
Mrs Pierburg said she still made trips from London to see her hairdresser in Dusseldorf.
“I am still searching for a very good one (in England),” she told Mr Justice Moor.
“When I am visiting my mother, and there is time, I like to see my hairdresser (in Dusseldorf).”
She said she stopped living in Germany nearly 20 years ago.
“London is the city of things I am interested in,” she said.
“There is nothing for me to go back to Germany for.
“There is, for me, no culture. There is culture but not for me.”
She added: “There is nothing for me now to go back to in Germany.”
Mr Pierburg, an art collector, told the judge on Tuesday that he and his estranged wife were tied to Germany.
“Our main connection, like an umbilical cord, to Germany has never been broken,” he said.
“We were living in Switzerland but our hearts were still beating in Germany.”
He told Mr Justice Moor he had been “fortunate” to inherit a lot of assets.
Lewis Marks QC, who is leading Mr Pierburg’s legal team, questioned whether Mrs Pierburg was really resident in England.
He suggested that the four-bedroom house she had in London was not big enough.
“These are people who at home have a staff of eight or nine people looking after them,” he said.
“They have a chef.”
He added: “It is hard to imagine Frau Pierburg rustling up some scrambled eggs and toast. Maybe she does.”
Mr Marks said Mrs Pierburg had been married for 35 years to an “incredibly tax sensitive, wealthy man”.
He said their life was a life of “socialising”, “going to the opera” and “having dinner out”.
Eight years ago a newspaper and magazine reported that Mr Pierburg had been invited to Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding breakfast by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.