Most models spend their entire careers trying to stay on the runway; Jodie Kidd left it at 22, at the peak of a career that made her one of the 1990s’ most recognisable faces. She later told The Telegraph that escaping the city for the countryside finally calmed her crippling anxiety.
Born: 1978 · Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) · Occupation: Model, television personality · Pub: The Half Moon, Kirdford
Quick snapshot
- Born 25 September 1978 in Canterbury, Kent (IMDb)
- One son: Indio Vianini Kidd (IMDb) (IMDb)
- Height listed at 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) (Daily City biography)
- Current relationship status — no sourced 2024 record
- Exact net worth — no verified figure
- Direct Beaverbrook family link — unconfirmed
- 2018 — bought The Half Moon pub in Kirdford (Evening Standard)
- 2023 — closed the pub after staff faced physical and verbal abuse (Evening Standard) (Evening Standard)
- 2024 — named a director of the All England Jumping Course (Hickstead announcement)
- A governance role in equestrian sport, with her family’s name attached (Hickstead) (Millionair Magazine)
- TV, motorsports, and sustainability work continues (Millionair Magazine)
- No longer runs the Half Moon after the 2023 closure (Millionair Magazine)
Eleven rows, one pattern: the public facts about Jodie Kidd are easier to verify than the private ones.
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Jodie Kidd |
| Date of birth | 25 September 1978 (IMDb) |
| Place of birth | Canterbury, Kent, England |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Occupation | Model, television personality, racing driver (Plex profile) |
| Mother | Wendy Kidd (Wikipedia) |
| Father | Johnny Kidd, businessman and former showjumper (Wikipedia) |
| Son | Indio Vianini Kidd (IMDb) |
| Partner (2020) | Joseph, a former Marine (The Telegraph) |
| Pub | The Half Moon, Kirdford, West Sussex (Evening Standard) |
| 2024 role | Director, All England Jumping Course, Hickstead (Hickstead) |
Does Jodie Kidd have a partner?
The documented record is more settled than the search queries suggest. In 2020, The Telegraph reported that Kidd lived in West Sussex with her son Indio and her partner Joseph, a former Marine (The Telegraph). No major outlet has since confirmed a new partner or an engagement.
Who is Jodie Kidd engaged to?
- Engagement: none is documented in sourced reporting.
- Last documented partner: Joseph, a former Marine — named by The Telegraph in 2020.
The engagement question runs far ahead of the evidence. The queries “Jodie Kidd partner 2024”, “Jodie Kidd husband”, and “Jodie Kidd fiancé” are among the most common ways people arrive at her biography, yet no reputable publication has reported a current fiancé, and Kidd has not made a public announcement.
The pattern: Kidd keeps the private side of her life quieter than her public career — the gap in the record is her decision, not a lack of tabloid interest.
Does Jodie Kidd still own a pub?
The short answer is no — at least not as a running business. Kidd became co-proprietor of The Half Moon, a Grade II listed pub in Kirdford, West Sussex, when she bought into the 15th-century village inn (Evening Standard; Regtransfers customer page).
By 2020, The Telegraph’s profile described her as the pub’s landlady in the West Sussex countryside (The Telegraph) — the rural project that anchored her post-London life. Then, in 2023, the Evening Standard reported that she closed the pub after staff faced physical and verbal abuse.
A Grade II listed pub is the classic English-idyll business — until customer behaviour becomes the daily problem. Kidd closed the Half Moon in 2023 rather than keep staff in the path of that abuse.
The implication: owning a piece of the countryside sounds romantic, but the Half Moon shows that rural hospitality still runs on thin margins and hard evenings.
What is Jodie Kidd doing now?
In 2024, Hickstead announced Kidd as a new director of the All England Jumping Course — the third generation of her family to hold the position (Hickstead announcement). The showground noted that her godfather, Douglas Bunn, founded it in 1960, and that she remains a close friend of the Bunn family. A 2024 profile describes her championing sustainability while continuing to work in TV and motorsports (Millionair Magazine).
The modelling chapter closed early and on her own terms: she retired at 22 because anxiety had become severe, and she has since credited the move out of London with easing it. Her 2024 activity profile also includes podcasting and a visible social-media presence.
- Hickstead director (2024) — a governance seat at the All England Jumping Course.
- TV and motorsports work — continuing per 2024 coverage.
- Podcasting and social media — part of her current public activity.
- Sustainability advocacy — highlighted in recent profiles.
Her second act is governance, not glamour: a director seat at one of Britain’s flagship equestrian venues, held by the third generation of a family whose name is written through the showground’s history.
Why this matters: the Hickstead appointment gives her a professional anchor beyond celebrity — a place where family history, equestrian credibility, and public profile overlap.
How many times has Jodie Kidd been married?
Wikipedia records one marriage: to Aidan Butler on 10 September 2005 (Wikipedia). No second marriage appears in the sourced record, and Kidd has not discussed one publicly. The consistent public summary is a single marriage that ended in divorce.
How many children does Jodie Kidd have?
- One son: Indio Vianini Kidd — named in IMDb’s filmography.
- Born 5 September 2011 — per celebrity-bio listings (Daily City biography).
Indio sits at the centre of her family life. The 2020 household portrait placed Kidd, her son, and her then-partner together in West Sussex.
Who is Jodie Kidd’s mother?
- Wendy Kidd — named in Wikipedia’s biography entry.
Wendy Kidd stays largely out of the public record. The sources name her as Kidd’s mother without detailing a separate public career.
Who is Jodie Kidd’s dad?
- Johnny Kidd — businessman and former showjumper, per Wikipedia.
The showjumping detail connects directly to the equestrian world Kidd now operates in: her father’s background, the Hickstead family role, and her own racing career all point to a household where horses were never a side interest.
What this means: the dramatic parts of her biography belong to the 2000s. Since Indio was born in 2011, the record tilts toward stability, privacy, and the countryside.
Kidd’s private life remains largely out of the public eye, but the documented facts show a stable family centered on her son Indio.
How rich is Jodie Kidd?
There is no verified net-worth figure in the sourced record. Online estimates circulate, but none traces to Kidd, her representatives, or a financial disclosure — so the honest answer is that the exact number is not publicly known.
- West Sussex home — documented since 2020 (The Telegraph).
- Pub venture — The Half Moon, Kirdford (Evening Standard).
- Career base — a top-tier 1990s modelling career (Daily City).
Where does Jodie Kidd live?
- West Sussex — her home county since at least 2020, per The Telegraph’s profile.
She swapped the city for the countryside after leaving modelling, a move she has credited with calming her anxiety and steadying her public life.
What cars does Jodie Kidd own?
- No verified vehicle list is documented.
- She is described as a racing driver and works in motorsports (Plex; Millionair Magazine).
- Automotive-industry site Regtransfers lists her among its celebrity customers (Regtransfers).
Her automotive identity is competitive rather than collectible. The record connects her to racing and motoring culture, not to a garage of showpiece cars.
Asking “how rich” misses how Kidd actually lives. Her documented wealth shows up in choices — a village pub, a West Sussex base, a racing schedule — not in a published balance sheet.
The catch: celebrity net-worth figures are rarely backed by any disclosure; Kidd’s financial reality is better read through the lifestyle she has documented than through a number on a bio site.
Is Jodie Kidd related to Lord Beaverbrook?
The question follows her family’s newspaper-and-equestrian history, but the sourced record is thinner than the search volume implies. What is documented: her father is Johnny Kidd, a businessman and former showjumper (Wikipedia), and her godfather was Douglas Bunn, who founded Hickstead in 1960 (Hickstead announcement).
- Father: Johnny Kidd — businessman and former showjumper (Wikipedia).
- Godfather: Douglas Bunn — founder of Hickstead, 1960 (Hickstead).
A direct line to the Beaverbrook family is not confirmed in the accessible record. The exact relationship is not spelled out in the sources gathered for this profile, so it stays an open question rather than a confirmed biographical fact. The public record does not document where, or whether, that connection sits in the family tree.
The honest position: without a documented family tree, the Beaverbrook link remains an intriguing search query — not a confirmed branch of her biography.
Timeline: from catwalk to countryside
Eight dates, one pattern: every time Kidd leaves a world — fashion, London, hospitality — she lands somewhere with more grass and fewer cameras.
| Year | Milestone | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Born in Canterbury, Kent | IMDb |
| 1990s | Rose to prominence as a fashion model | Daily City biography |
| Age 22 | Retired from modelling because anxiety had become severe | The Telegraph |
| 2004 | Featured in an Independent profile | The Independent |
| 2011 | Son Indio Vianini Kidd born | Daily City |
| 2018 | Bought The Half Moon pub in Kirdford | Evening Standard |
| 2023 | Closed the pub after staff faced physical and verbal abuse | Evening Standard |
| 2024 | Named director of the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead | Hickstead |
The arc: the dates show a career of deliberate exits — out of fashion, out of London, out of the pub trade — and each exit moved her closer to the life she says she wanted.
Confirmed facts and open questions
Parts of the internet treat Kidd’s biography as fully settled. The sourced record is better split into two lists: what is documented, and what remains open.
Confirmed facts
- Born 25 September 1978 in Canterbury, Kent (IMDb)
- Retired from modelling at 22 because anxiety became severe (The Telegraph)
- Lives in West Sussex (The Telegraph)
- Became co-proprietor of The Half Moon pub (Evening Standard)
- Has one son, Indio Vianini Kidd (IMDb)
- Named director of the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead in 2024 (Hickstead)
What’s unclear
- Current relationship status — last documented partner: Joseph (2020)
- Exact net worth — no verified figure
- Direct Beaverbrook family link — unconfirmed
- Whether she still holds the Half Moon lease after the 2023 closure
- Son’s exact birth date — celebrity-bio sites say 5 September 2011, but no official record confirms it
- Favourite car — no verified answer
The balance is deliberate: Kidd’s core biography is documented, but the layer people search for most — relationships, wealth, family connections — remains largely private.
What the coverage says
Two moments capture the arc: a 2004 profile asking what comes after the runway, and a 2023 headline about the pub closing.
“What does a supermodel do next?”
— The Independent, 2004
“Jodie Kidd shuts pub after staff face physical and verbal abuse.”
— Evening Standard, 2023
The distance between those two lines is the whole story: in 2004 the question was about identity, and in 2023 the announcement was about a business decision made under pressure.
Kidd’s biography keeps resisting easy labels — model, landlady, director, mother — and that is precisely the point. Two decades after walking away from fashion, she has built a public record anchored in rural Britain rather than celebrity London. For anyone in British public life planning an exit from a first career, the choice is clear: anchor the next chapter somewhere real, as Kidd did — a village, a pub, a showground — or stay in the spotlight and let it write the story for you.
Frequently asked questions
How did Jodie Kidd start her modelling career?
She rose to prominence in the 1990s as one of the fashion industry’s most recognisable faces, then retired at 22 because anxiety had become severe — a story The Telegraph documented in detail.
What television shows has Jodie Kidd appeared on?
She is widely described as a television personality, and 2024 coverage shows her still working in TV alongside motorsports. A complete show-by-show credit list is not itemised in the available record.
Has Jodie Kidd written any books?
No published books are documented in the available record. Her public output has run through modelling, television presenting, podcasting, and social media rather than authorship.
What causes does Jodie Kidd support?
Sustainability is the cause that shows up most clearly in 2024 coverage. Her Hickstead director role also ties her to the future of British showjumping, and she has spoken openly about mental health after her own experience with anxiety.
Is Jodie Kidd active on Instagram?
Her current activity includes podcasting, TV, and motorsports, and she maintains an active social-media presence as part of that public profile.
What is Jodie Kidd’s favourite car?
There is no verified, sourced answer. Her documented automotive identity is about racing rather than collecting — she is described as a racing driver and has been named as a customer by an automotive-industry site. No specific favourite car appears in the record.
The through-line across all six questions: the public record is solid on her career and thin on her private life — and that asymmetry is the most reliable fact about Jodie Kidd.
Related reading
Two profiles of British women who built careers around countryside businesses.
Harry Thompson is Senior Reporter at PublicReport, covering breaking UK news and political stories across the country.