Matthew Freud
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may not meet the general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (April 2009) |
Matthew Freud (born 1963) is head of Freud Communications, an international public relations firm in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Freud is the son of the late writer Sir Clement Freud, formerly a Liberal Member of Parliament; his sister is television interviewer Emma Freud, wife of screenwriter Richard Curtis.
His great-grandfather is Sigmund Freud, founded psychoanalysis, which Sigmund's daughter Anna extended. His is doubly related to the 'father' of public relations, Edward Bernays, whose father was the brother of Sigmund Freud's wife and whose mother was the sister of Sigmund. Freud is the nephew of artist Lucian Freud OM CH CBE and (by former marriage) of the late writer Lady Caroline Blackwood. Matthew's cousins include fashion designer Bella Freud, novelists Susie Boyt and Esther Freud, wife of actor David Morrissey.
He was educated at Westminster School and left in his third year and briefly attended Pimlico Comprehensive.
[edit] Career
Freud Communications is currently the eighth largest public relations company in the UK, with around 150 employees. Landmark campaigns include the London 2012 Olympics, Product (RED), Nike, Pepsi, The Opening of Atlantis The Palm and UNHCR's Gimme Shelter.[1]
Matthew Freud, along with his sister Emma Freud and brother-in-law Richard Curtis, sit on the board of Trustees for Comic Relief, which is aired every second year on the BBC as a nationwide charity event.[2]
In May 2005, in partnership with Piers Morgan, he acquired ownership of the Press Gazette, a media trade publication, and its 'cash cow' the British Press Awards, in a deal worth £1million.[3][4] An apparent conflict of interest in this ownership is cited as one of the reasons many major newspapers have boycotted the event.[5][6]
[edit] Personal life
Freud's first wife was Caroline Hutton with whom he had two sons: George Rupert Freud (born 3 October 1995) who was currently attends Arnold House School and who will start Bradfield College in September 2009, and Jonah Henry Freud (born 1 April 1997). Caroline subsequently married the 9th Earl Spencer on 15 December 2001, and became the sister-in-law of Diana, Princess of Wales.
His second wife is Elisabeth Murdoch, second daughter of media magnate Rupert Murdoch. When the couple began dating (while working as colleagues), she was pregnant with a second child by her first husband and business partner, Elkin Pianim (the son of Ghanaian financial and political mogul, Kwame Pianim). The couple married in August 2001 at Blenheim Palace. [7] They have two children, Charlotte Emma Freud, born in 2000 and Samson Murdoch Freud born in 2007.[citation needed]
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.freud.com/
- ^ Comic Relief - Trustees
- ^ Journalism.co.uk
- ^ The Guardian
- ^ [British Press Awards 2006#Controversy leading up to the 2006 awards|2006 British Press Awards]
- ^ Daily Telegraph, Jan 24 2006 - Money
- ^ "A private affair as golden couple keep wedding out of limelight". The Guardian. 2001-08-18. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2001/aug/18/uknews1. Retrieved 2009-04-15.
