Britain's 'first gay dad' who grew up on a council estate is now a multi millionaire and is splashing out on his eight kids this Christmas as he purchases a £600,000 flat for his baby. Barrie Drewitt-Barlow, 52, and his ex-husband Tony were the first gay couple in the UK to have a child via surrogacy and they have planned a very lavish Christmas for their kids this year.
The business owner told Manchester Evening News: "Christmas is one of those times when it's nice to splash out on your family. I know there are many families that will not be so lucky this year for sure. I feel for them all. Barrie has defended his decisions to spoil his kids with such luxurious gifts as he says: "People can think what the hell they like, they always do anyway. It's my money - I work up to 20 hours a day some days and now I want to buy things for my kids. I really couldn’t give a flying f*** what anyone thinks."
The couple made history in 1999 when Saffron and Aspen, now 22 were born. They then went on to have Orlando, 18 and another set of twins, Jasper and Dallas, 11. Barrie then had another two kids with his fiancé, Scott who he shares Valentina, two and five-month-old little Romeo with. "When we first wanted to have children, it was 1996, I was working as a social worker in Essex and London, and thought it would be great to adopt or foster with my partner Tony. In those days, two people of the same sex could not make an application together and to be honest, it was never even thought of as an option for gays.