“Queen of The Metropolitan Opera” to divorce after 23 years

“Queen of The Metropolitan Opera” Mercedes Bass and billionaire Sid Bass are divorcing after 23 years, with sources telling us, “This is the biggest high-society divorce… since their last divorces.”

In 2006 the couple gave the Met $25 million dollars — the largest single unrestricted gift paid at one time from an individual in the company's then 123-year history.

The Bass romance blossomed when Mercedes was married to Ambassador Francis Kellogg and Sid to Anne Bass. Mercedes famously got Sid's attention by throwing a bread roll at him at a 1986 lunch in East Hampton. Creating a huge scandal, Sid, the scion of a Texas oil family, divorced Anne with a settlement said to be between $200 million and $500 million.

The source explained, “They are leading separate lives. He's had it with the black-tie and the opera, and wants to retreat and work on his art. She has informed the Met board of her divorce, and insists she will stay active.”

Mercedes appeared last week at the season opening of “Anna Bolena” at the Met without Sid but accompanied by Nancy Kissinger.

Sid Bass, worth an estimated $2.1 billion, is a son of Perry Richardson Bass, who built an oil fortune with his brother Sid Richardson. This divorce will undoubtedly be just as expensive as Sid's last. The couple have an apartment at 4 E. 66th St., a $16 million estate in Fort Worth, Texas, and a residence in Aspen, Colo. Their lawyers didn't get back to us.

information via New York Post 

Photo: Mercedes and Sid Bass with Yo-To Ma © Julie Skarratt

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.