HELLO! August 8, 1998

SEAN CONNERY AND WIFE MICHELINE PUT THEIR SEAFRONT HIDEAWAY IN MARBELLA UP FOR SALE

THE HOLIDAY HOME SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH WEEKS AFTER MEETING THE ACTOR HAS WITNESSED 25 YEARS OF HAPPINESS TOGETHER

Screen legend Sean Connery has decided to sell his fabulous hideaway on Spain's Costa del Sol, where he and second wife Micheline have enjoyed numerous holidays over the past 25 years.

            The beach-front Marbella estate, set in extensive grounds and including a main residence, three guest houses, a summer cottage, staff lodgings and swimming pool, has been put on the market for around £5.5 million.

            Sean, who will be 68 on August 25, has traditionally celebrated his birthday in Marbella, an annual event which has become something of an institution on the coast.

            This year however, it seems the former Bond star and his wife of 25 years will be celebrating in another one of their homes. According to the estate agents handling the property, the couple have decided to sell Casa Malibu because Sean's professional commitments leave them with little time to enjoy their Mediterranean retreat.

            In the past year alone, he has been busy shooting two potential box office hits at England's Pinewood Studios - The Avengers with Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes and his current project The Entrapment, with Catherine Zeta Jones.

            Other reasons for the sale have, however, also been cited, including the fact that Sean would like to be able to mix with the locals but has not had the time to learn Spanish. On the other hand, it would also appear that in crowded Marbella, privacy is an ever-increasing problem. When the Connerys first arrived, they could run straight from the house into the sea. Nowadays, they have had to erect a wall around the estate, and new neighbours have put an end to their isolation.

            Micheline found the house shortly after she met Sean in 1970.  “An estate agent showed me this home and it was derelict.  But when I saw it I fell in love for the second time that year,” she told The Mirror.

            Casa Malibu effectively became Micheline’s expression of her love for Sean.  Not only did she help with the initial design, she continued to refurbish it and make it as comfortable as possible for her husband to come to between films.

            Although the couple also own other properties, Casa Malibu became a focal point of the Connery’s family life.  It was there that they and their children – Micheline’s three from her previous marriage and Sean’s son Jason – entertained guests for long lazy spells during the summer months, Richard Burton, Michael Caine and Billy Connolly among them.

            However, since the children have all grown up, the guests have thinned out and Sean is thinking of putting an end to his extended tax exile by returning to Britain with his wife.  Indeed, the pair seem to have their eye on Sean’s native Scotland which Micheline declares to be “a really beautiful country”.

            Certainly, Scotland would make a change for French-born Micheline, who would undoubtedly be happy to put her artistic skills to work on a property once more, a passion which Sean admires tremendously but is unable to share.

            “To be perfectly honest, I’m not house-trained,” he admitted to HELLO! some years back.  “None of the kids when I grew up were ever in their houses.  There’s no question that that influences you.  I spent most of the time in the street or playing football.  This place in Spain is like a hidey-hole for me.  Until Micheline, I never really bothered with possessions.”

-LAWRIE MASTERSON