Friday, May 11, 2012

U.S.: Cameron’s former lover becomes cloistered nun

The story of Laura Adshead, former girlfriend of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who swapped politics, alcohol and drugs for life as a Benedictine nun.


She could have been Britain’s First Lady but she chose to become a Benedictine nun. 44 year old Laura Adshead dated British Prime Minister, David Cameron, from spring 1990 to summer 1991. 

In 2008, after seeing her life slip more and more deeply into a spiral of gossip, alcohol and drugs, the dazzling blond decided to take her vows as a Benedictine nun, becoming Sister John Mary. 

Now she lives together with 36 fellow nuns in a cloistered convent in Connecticut, three hours by car from New York.

The Daily Mail which  published the story describe the new Laura as a woman who finally found peace: she gets up at two in the morning to pray, goes to mass, washed dishes, milks cows and brushes the church floors.

Few could have imagined her life would take this path. Having obtained a degree from Oxford University, Laura Adshead got a job at the Conservative party’s headquarters in London. Here she met the then militant Cameron, whom she dated from 1990 to 1991. 

They shared an intense relationship which ended, leaving them both “heartbroken” according to a biography of the British Prime Minister published about a year ago. 

Since then, Cameron took to only dating women who were not in politics, including Samantha, the woman who was to become his wife in 1996.
 
But Laura took a different path. 

After working as a correspondence secretary for the then Prime Minister John Major, she left politics to study to become a manager. 

And she made it, finding a job as an executive in Manhattan for Ogilvy & Mather.

But the stresses of success and depression led her down the slippery slope of drugs and drinking. 

Then in 2008, she unexpectedly changed her life around. 

“‘I remember having to tell my mother, “I’m going to join the abbey,’’ to which she replied: “Yes, I can see this world has no real meaning for you any more.’’ 

And her choice certainly seems to be working out for her. 

Sister John Mary gives her word on it.