His neighbours in the well-heeled town of Marlow quite simply adore him. Described as ‘polite and very, very kind’, Chris Evans is nothing short of a local hero, since buying his £4million Thames-side home there in 2019.
A regular at his friend Tom Kerridge’s restaurant, The Hand and Flowers, Evans is, say fellow patrons, always happy to splash his cash behind the bar to ensure they have a good time.
He sticks to soft drinks, though, after giving up alcohol a year ago. The once notoriously boozy broadcaster had spoken previously of his attempts to quit drinking, but this time, it seems to be working.
It’s not the only thing that’s changed about Evans, who was once famed for his laddish and coarse behaviour.
Today, those in his social circle say the 60-year-old is ‘wholesome to the last’. Some even say he’s gone ‘a little bit woke’.
Of course, the passing of the years changes us all. And showbiz is a sphere where one must remain in a near-constant state of reinvention to ensure success.
Chris Evans returns as host of the reboot of Channel 4 classic TFI Friday
But I can reveal that Evans’s transformation is more strategic than it appears.
Take, for example, the reboot of the Channel 4 classic TFI Friday. Those who tuned in last week may have noticed that Evans – who has four children with his glamorous golf pro wife Natasha Shishmanian – was rather more muted than he was in the programme’s 1990s incarnation.
TFI’s original format prompted astonishing controversies, including weighing Victoria Beckham on air shortly after she gave birth to Brooklyn, a ‘fat lookalikes’ segment and children being left in tears after losing out on prizes.
Nothing so tasteless was to be seen this time. Nor was there any signature swearing.
While sources tell me this is all part of the new Brand Evans, reflecting the changes in his own habits, others tell me that there are more cynical reasons at play.
Evans, it seems, is ‘absolutely terrified of his past coming back to haunt him and being cancelled’. Those close to the broadcaster go on to explain that his rebranding is far from an accident – more a frantic exercise in self-preservation after witnessing a host of his prominent contemporaries held accountable for historical behaviours.
A source familiar with Evans says: ‘Chris has totally reinvented his public persona. He’s pretty woke, he runs everywhere, he’s a bit of a hippy. He’s now every bit the country gentleman and the perfect family man.’
‘Generous and friendly, charm personified, and very gentle when interviewing guests on air.’
The source added: ‘It’s all very different to when he used to goad for a reaction and try to spark controversy.
‘In truth, he’s in constant fear he’ll be cancelled and that his old ways will come back to haunt him. He’s seen it happen to so many other people in showbiz.
‘It is literally his worst nightmare. He knows what he got up to is well documented – after all, he wrote about a lot of it in his book.’
Evans in 2001 with then wife Billie Piper who he married earlier that year
Evans with his current wife – with whom he has four children – Natasha Shishmanian
Evans has written two autobiographical books detailing the rise of his career and personal life – It’s Not What You Think, which came out in 2009, and Memoirs Of A Fruitcake, published the following year, which includes his marriage to Billie Piper.
He married the singer-turned-actress in 2007 in Las Vegas. She was 18 to his 35. He’d begun dating her when she was just 17.
‘Chris knows how that would look today,’ says one associate. ‘It just shows how different times are now.’
His age-gap marriage aside, there was a time when TV bosses feared that Evans’s extroverted nature could spark a national scandal. The DJ has previously admitted exposing his penis at meetings while fronting The Big Breakfast, saying: ‘If you get your willy out, it’s the funniest thing in the world, girls love it.’
His life was a melee of drink and drug-fuelled chaos – which eventually led to him resigning from Radio 1’s Breakfast Show.
While the official line was that there were fallouts over his contracts, even the most lenient of BBC executives had grown tired of his alcoholic benders and drunk on-air appearances.
As part of his reinvention, Evans has also shaken off much of his former friendship circle – including previously close colleagues and confidants.
Gone is Danny Baker, co-writer of the original TFI Friday series and Evans’s best man when he tied the knot with Billie.
Evans and his wife after completing the London Marathon in 2022
The presenter with Kurt Russell and Quentin Tarantino on an episode of TFI Friday in 2015
Baker was sacked by the BBC from his role as a Radio 5 presenter in 2019 after retweeting what was deemed to be a racially offensive image of Prince Harry’s son Archie – something he later said was an ‘error of judgement’. His relationship with Evans doesn’t appear to have survived the subsequent fallout.
Other former friends include Paul Gascoigne, the troubled former England footballer, and Vassos Alexander, Evans’s long-term radio sidekick.
Meanwhile, Evans also severed ties with his fiercely loyal personal assistant, Hiten Vora, two years ago, with those close to the situation saying he had been ‘inexplicably ruthless’. Friends say Vora ‘was practically family’.
As one insider explains: ‘That’s the reality behind the chirpy TV and radio persona. Chris has a very ruthless streak.
‘It is all part of his schtick. Nice guy on the outside, but tough still inside. He just doesn’t want that to be public knowledge.’
That harder edge is clear in Evans’s business successes. As well as his home in Marlow, he has another property 15 miles away in Ascot, Berkshire, and a third which he converted into 14 luxury apartments.
A shrewd operator, he is today thought to be worth an eye- watering £88million, thanks to media investments and selling the rights to his own shows. With this fortune have come other toys, including a collection of Ferrari sports cars.
Still, though, Evans makes much of living by the ‘be kind’ mantra.
He purchased a £330,000 home in 2015 for his daughter Jade, from whom he had been estranged for many years after walking out on her and his then-fiancee Alison Ward aged 21, just months after her birth.
He later admitted he had been ‘a selfish p***k’ and made efforts to repair past hurts, walking Jade down the aisle in 2013.
Charity work is also a major focus. He launched fundraising festival CarFest in 2012, through which he has raised millions for children’s charities.
One source explains: ‘There is a view from some around him that he is perhaps a little too eager to publicise how much he does for good causes. A lot of the effort behind the scenes is made by other people in his team.’
Long-distance running is also a new fixation and he has completed the London Marathon several times for charity, even penning a book on the subject.
No doubt Evans would prefer this new, polished version of his own story to take precedence over his wilder past. ‘Chris has moved on,’ says an associate. ‘He hopes everyone else has too.’
Whether he succeeds in airbrushing history remains to be seen.
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