Emma Grede says her husband’s wealth had nothing to do with her success
By Sean O'Grady, Press Association Deputy Entertainment Editor
Emma Grede has said her husband’s wealth had nothing to do with her own success as a businesswoman.
The Dragons’ Den star, 43, who co-founded the denim brand Good American with Khloe Kardashian, is married to Swedish businessman Jens Grede, who launched the Skims clothing company with Kim Kardashian.
Emma Grede, who has a net worth of approximately 400 million dollars (£297 million), insisted she would have been a success regardless of who she married.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, she said: “When someone says, ‘She married well’ or ‘She took an elevator to the top’, I absolutely won’t have it.
“We definitely became successful in parallel to each other but there’s no shortcut in this life.
“I would have been successful regardless of who I married, or if I ever married.”
The couple tied the knot in 2012 and are parents to Grey, 12, Lola, 11, and four-year-old twins Lake and Rafferty.
Grede defended previously saying she is a “three-hour mum” on the weekends, meaning she spends the rest of the time focusing on her own activities.
The comments, made in 2016, attracted a significant amount of backlash.
She told Desert Island Discs host Lauren Laverne: “I love my children. I also didn’t pop out kids and turn into some other version of myself.
“You don’t become me and then say, ‘You know what, I want to stay at home and tradwife it’. I don’t. I love my kids but I don’t love Legos.
“Because I go out and work really hard and really love what I do, that doesn’t mean that I’m not equally a fantastic parent.”
Grede said that she has “loads of money” and so has nannies who help out.
The businesswoman said becoming wealthy was a priority for her from a young age.
She added: “I had a fixation on, I didn’t want to be poor. I had equated the fact that more money would mean more power for me, more decision-making, more freedom.”
Grede also addressed the issue of asking the boss for a pay rise and said she never had difficulty attributing value to the work she did.
She added: “When you’re in a job where you see the money, meaning you bill, you see the flow of how it works, it becomes really obvious.
“I have no problem attributing my value and my work into what was being made.”
Grede reflected on the criticism she has received for comments about working from home, explaining why visibility, proximity and opportunity were crucial to her career progression.
She said: “What’s worked for me is visibility, being in an office where people could see how I move.”
The full Desert Island Discs episode is on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio 4 from Sunday at 10am.
