Dying stepdad of Kate Moss claims he has been snubbed by the supermodel and she won’t help him with illness
Geoff Collman hits out at model saying 'I see her swanning around on yachts but she won’t help me'
KATE Moss’s stepdad has accused her of snubbing him after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Geoff Collman, 75, was the partner of Kate’s mum Linda for over 25 years and a key figure as the teenager shot to catwalk fame.
But his pleas for help have fallen on deaf ears since being diagnosed with incurable lung and brain cancer more than two years ago.
He said: “I see her swanning around in cars and on yachts but she won’t help me.
“I’m upset I have never had a call from Kate to say she is sorry to hear how I am.
“We have more than 20 years of history. I would have thought she would have called and said, ‘Do you want some private medical help?’
“But she’s not my daughter so she may feel she doesn’t have to.”
Every time I see her grinning in the paper with a bloke I think, ‘I could be dead in an hour’
Geoff came forward to tell his story in The Sun on Sunday and we are making a significant contribution to assist his care.
He insists that Kate, 42, knows about his condition because she is so close to her mum.
He added: “I think they talk every day. There’s no question Kate doesn’t know.
“If I had someone I had known for 20 years — even a bitter enemy — in my position I would think all bets were off. I did expect some sort of sympathy.”
Geoff was furious when he saw Kate and boyfriend Nikolai von Bismarck, 29, pictured in a new £265,000 Rolls-Royce this week.
He said: “I was going to ask for a couple of grand for medical expenses but was met with a blank. Then I saw that picture.
“My abiding image is now of her swanning around London in a Rolls-Royce.
“Every time I see her grinning in the paper with a bloke I think, ‘I could be dead in an hour’. And I see her going on Philip Green’s yacht. But she won’t help me.”
Geoff, a former TV salesman and property developer, got together with Linda, now 68, in the mid 1980s when Kate was a teenager.
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They met in a Surrey pub when Linda was still married to the model’s dad Peter.
After her parents divorced Kate moved in with her mum and Geoff, while younger brother Nick stayed with his dad.
Geoff admits he was no angel. He and Linda split “gradually” but separated for good months before his diagnosis in April 2014.
A house they shared, and which Kate helped finance, was sold for £795,000 in August 2015.
He said: “They cashed me out with a percentage of the money I put in and had lawyers do all the contracts. I have ended up with nothing.”
But while bitter over the sale, Geoff recalls happier times with Croydon-born Kate, who used to introduce him as her stepdad. He said: “I have known her since she was 13 or 14.
“Everything was hunky-dory back then. She was a lovely, fun, normal girl and everyone wanted to be her friend.”
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When Geoff and Linda moved in together, Kate was a schoolgirl at Riddlesdown Collegiate in Purley.
In 1988 her big break came when she signed for Storm modelling agency after being spotted in New York.
Geoff said: “She was only there because her dad wanted to whisk her and Nick to the Caribbean. I guess you could say it wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t with Linda!
“I was amazed to suddenly see her on TV and catwalks because there had been no hint of it.
“I thought she might end up working in a shop or something.
“She got lucky and has a tremendous personality.
“Everything was right clothes-wise, weight-wise and cheekbones-wise and it all came together.
“That was harder to achieve than winning the lottery.”
Geoff drove Kate to modelling jobs before she left home.
He said: “She went to a house in North London and has never had a skint day since.”
But the supermodel still visited and Geoff fondly recalls three or four family Christmases at her Cotswolds home. He said: “The booze would be flowing and they would all cook dinner. Kate was a good cook and looked after me.”
One Christmas at her London pad Geoff met actor Johnny Depp, her boyfriend from 1994-98.
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He is said to have broken her heart. But Geoff said: “Kate was the boss in that relationship. She wasn’t fazed by any of them.
“There was more chemistry with Johnny than any others. They were affectionate, always cuddling.”
Geoff was also invited to the christening of Lila, Kate’s daughter by Jefferson Hack in 2002.
But over the years his relationship with Kate became strained.
He admitted: “I sometimes did bad things, like go abroad on my own and not include Linda in everything.
I wasn’t averse to looking around but didn’t have affairs. At one time I was gambling like a warlord on horses and Kate did not have a lot of respect for me.”
They fell out “spectacularly” at a family Christmas in Cornwall in 2004 or 2005. Geoff explained: “Kate was going to take the pop star Marianne Faithfull to the Caribbean. I piped up and said, ‘You should take your mother instead.’
“Kate gave me a mouthful. Boy, can she swear! It was my fault I suppose for getting involved when I shouldn’t have. Our relationship was never the same after that.”
Around the same time, Geoff met druggie rocker Pete Doherty, who Kate dated from 2005 to 2007.
He said: “He seemed all right. He was tall, good-looking and smartly dressed, not like you see him on the TV. Linda used to tell her to be careful and I think she was pleased when she split from Pete.
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“But Kate was her own person and knew when to pull back.”
Later style-icon Kate started dating The Kills guitarist Jamie Hince and the pair wed in 2011.
Geoff was not invited to the glittering event. He said: “I didn’t really care but I nearly rang the paper that day to talk about the stepfather who wasn’t there.”
He added: “I thought Jamie was there for the dough and fame. The Kills? She made him famous!”
Over the years, Geoff noticed a difference in Kate’s personality, which he attributes to her fame.
He said: “Of course she’s changed. Everybody a**e-licks around her. Nobody wants to upset her. You must change in that environment.” He last saw Kate several years ago when she and actress pal Sadie Frost came to the Surrey home he shared with Linda.
Geoff said: “Everything was fine by then. I’ve met them all, Naomi Campbell, Sadie, Stella McCartney. Kate always had the same friends.
“They all knew I was with Linda but they didn’t really talk to me that much.”
And Geoff has harsh words for Kate’s new flame Nikolai.
He said: “I haven’t met him and don’t know who the f*** he is. I wonder whether she wanted to p**s Hince off. But he’ll get dumped in the end, I suspect.”
When someone is struck down with what I have, you would expect people to help out
Geoff is still in touch with Linda and has asked her for help as he struggles financially. He is now receiving only palliative care for his condition, which has developed to brain metastasis.
He needs a walking stick and often struggles for breath.
And he has to travel from his terraced home in East Grinstead, West Sussex, to the Royal Marsden Hospital in Brompton, West London.
He said: “It’s getting up to London all the time, the fares, and paying for hotels when you’re waiting for treatment that is difficult.
Geoff added: “Everyone falls out and has their ups and downs.
“But when someone is struck down with what I have, you would expect people to help out. When you die, it’s for eternity.”
An agent for Kate could not be reached for comment last night.
'Only thing she bought me was a metal bin!'
THE only gift Kate ever bought Geoff was a Brabantia kitchen bin.
He said: “She gave it to me and Linda one Christmas. It was all I ended up with when we split up. It was for mine and Linda’s home. I thought, ‘Is this a big giggle?’ ”
Geoff helped by Macmillan
GEOFF is being helped by Macmillan Nurses, qualified nurses with specialist skills in cancer care.
They support patients and their families through diagnosis and provide palliative care.