How The Traitors star Harriet Tyce overcame alcohol addiction and her close friend’s death to pursue her dream career as she enjoys £15 million fortune with city trader husband

Harriet Tyce finally decides to be honest about her profession in The Traitors, revealing that she is a former lawyer and crime writer.

This was a move that largely backfired; Although Harriet went against Traitor Rachel with all her might, she could not convince her Loyalist friends and as a result, she was exiled.

But away from the BBC reality show, Harriet has a checkered life of her own.

Educated at Oxford University and the daughter of a Lord and a famous judge, Harriet followed in her father’s footsteps and became a lawyer.

But after a decade in the profession, he left the legal industry, claiming he was a ‘terrible lawyer’ due to his struggles with alcohol addiction and wanting to focus on raising his children.

The star also lost her best friend and journalist Sarah Hughes to breast cancer in 2021. This tragedy gave Harriet the motivation she needed to stay sober and continue pursuing her dream career as a writer.

The former criminal barrister and her husband Nathanial (pictured) are estimated to have a fortune of £15 million, with the latter earning around £3.5 million a year as a City Trader

Harriet’s personal life explains why she seemed bemused by her exile in Wednesday’s episode.

While other contestants often hoped to win a life-changing amount of money, Harriet didn’t need the money.

The former criminal lawyer and her husband are estimated to be worth £15 million; the latter earns around £3.5 million a year as a City Trader.

The couple live in a large mansion on a pretty tree-lined street in the residential area of ​​Highbury in north London; this area is known for its high concentration of so-called ‘champagne socialists’.

Nathaniel Tyce is said to earn around £3.5 million a year from Japanese bank Nomura, where he heads the Europe, Middle East and Africa global markets.

Nathaniel, who has been married to Harriet for 25 years, worked for Barclays for decades before switching and friends told The Mail On Sunday that he and his husband were ‘absolutely moneyed’.

In fact, the pair could almost afford to buy Ardross Castle, where the BBC program was filmed, and Harriet had always planned to donate the prize money to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation following Sarah’s death in 2021.

After obtaining a degree in English from Oxford University in 1994, Harriet qualified as a barrister and practiced as a barrister for almost a decade.

Educated at Oxford University and the daughter of a lord and a famous judge, Harriet followed in her father’s footsteps and became a lawyer.

Nathaniel, who has been married to Harriet for 25 years, worked for Barclays for decades before switching and friends told The Mail On Sunday that he and his husband were ‘absolutely moneyed’.

In Wednesday’s episode of The Traitors, Harriet declares she’s ‘coming’ for villain Rachel after revealing her true identity

During his high-profile career he followed in the footsteps of his famous father, Lord William Nimmo Smith, who was a Senator for the College of Justice.

After attending Eton and Oxford University, he worked as a judge in the Scottish High Courts and the High Court of Justice.

Harriet left the profession after welcoming children Freddie, 21, and Eloise, 17, while trying to balance motherhood and the legal profession. Inspired by her love for Agatha Christie, she decided to pursue her passion for writing.

In 2017, he attended the University of East Anglia’s creative writing master’s course and graduated with honors.

He has now published four crime novels; the first of these, Blood Orange, was chosen by former This Morning presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan for their book club.

In addition to her professional success, Harriet also celebrates staying sober for three years after her last experience. Drink in June 2022 after a 34-year struggle with alcohol.

In a 2024 article about his drinking for The Observer, he claimed that he was a “terrible lawyer” because of his alcohol addiction.

Harriet’s Instagram account is often a tribute to her recovery; Her major weight loss is also shown in a series of before and after photos, along with a series of photos showing the transformation in her image thanks to quitting drinking.

Despite boasting about his talents on the programme, he wrote in a first-person account of his alcoholism in 2024: ‘I was systematically sabotaging myself, falling into rooms in front of senior lawyers, and the next day I was late and hungover.’

He admitted: ‘I was no longer sabotaging my work and I was also a terrible lawyer. Crime writing is the kind of job you’d expect a drinker to do. But alcohol was still taking up too much space in my mind.’

Harriet quoted Ozzy Osbourne’s words: ‘They either give up when they’re in their 50s or die when they’re in their 60s’ and how they resonated with him.

Harriet lost a whopping four stone after quitting drinking in 2024 – following a 34-year battle with alcohol which she claimed turned her into a “terrible lawyer”

Originally from Edinburgh, Harriet has published three books so far in her career; His new novel, The Witch Trial, will be on the shelves next month.

He continued: ‘Going back to Ozzy Osbourne, what he’s talking about is known as snipers’ alley, this time in our early 50s, our last chance to make a change before we start getting killed one by one…

‘Several of my friends have already succumbed to addictions, it’s terrible to see their early deaths. Maybe I left it too late to compensate for the damage I did to myself…

‘But I’ll do my best. Yoga, weights, running. ‘I might even try swimming in cold water’.

She said in an interview: ‘There is a limit to the number of blackouts a middle-aged mother has to experience. One of my best friends died in April 2021. It was cancer, it was horrible, and it had absolutely nothing to do with alcohol.

‘But we were born two weeks apart from each other and it was a moment of reckoning for me to see her life cut so short. It was time to take care of myself. ‘

She has previously said that she is so grateful for her second chance at life and that if she wins Traitors, she would donate her prize to a breast cancer charity.

‘This is the perfect way for Harriet to remember her friend,’ says a friend.

Her fifth novel, The Witch Trial, hits shelves next month and, in a clever marketing move, sales have been soaring since its inclusion in the exhibition.

According to The Book Seller, sales have increased by a staggering 95.6% since it first hit screens.

The publication notes that copies purchased generally increased from 181 copies to 354, and that this increase was due to the author’s last novel, A Lesson on Cruelty.

Meanwhile, in the first week of January, The Lies You Told recorded 263 copies, up 93.4% from the previous week.

A friend said: ‘Her husband is making it up but so is Harriet. Traitors pay; Check out their sales. She’s not a stupid woman.’

The star also lost her best friend and journalist Sarah Hughes (L above) to breast cancer in 2021. This tragedy gave Harriet the motivation she needed to stay sober.

Former England footballer Peter Crouch’s wife, Abbey Clancy, is also a big fan and told Grazia magazine: [Blood Orange] down’.

It appears that Harriet has bonded with Louise Minchin over her books, as the former BBC Breakfast presenter commented: ‘Oh my god, this is amazing’ under her announcement that she would be appearing in Traitors. But now he is gaining many new fans.

The author, who published the book, was sent to leave the castle in a tense roundtable on Wednesday after he attacked Rachel, with loyal friends branding him ‘rude and indecisive’.

Meanwhile, speaking after her exile, Harriet told The Sun: ‘On the one hand, I’m heartbroken that I can’t go any further.

‘I didn’t win, so I lost, so it’s hard not to see it that way.

‘But on the other hand, I couldn’t ask for more action! I managed to find a way to fight as myself and leave on my own terms, and I really don’t think a lot of people who have experienced the game can say that.

‘If I had preferred to be there in the final but be cheated, I would have played my short game at any time.’