An attractive young horse trainer in the Netherlands, a female politician in the Caribbean and a bestselling author who had become unaccountably cold and secretive with his wife and long-time collaborator.
Art historian Blythe Brown knew the clues were hidden in plain sight if she could only break the code…
Now she insists she has. This week, the ex-wife of thriller writer Dan Brown filed a jaw-dropping lawsuit against the author of The Da Vinci Code, accusing him of living a ‘proverbial life of lies’.
But the ‘secret double life’ is, sadly, more prosaic than the complex mysteries revealed in The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003 and one of the most successful books ever written.
She hasn’t discovered — spoiler alert! — that 56-year-old Brown is the secret descendant of Jesus Christ’s heretical union with Mary Magdalene (a plot at the heart of his most famous tome).
This week, the ex-wife of thriller writer Dan Brown, art historian Blythe Brown, filed a jaw-dropping lawsuit against the author of The Da Vinci Code, accusing him of living a ‘proverbial life of lies’
But her allegations will be almost as shocking to those who know Brown as far less exciting in person than his dashing fictional characters.
Described by one newspaper as ‘not exactly a riot of hedonism’, his lifestyle includes being at his desk at 4am to write each morning and breaking off every hour to do physical jerks to help ‘keep the blood and ideas flowing’.
Yet in a plot twist worthy of one of his novels, his ex-wife claims he spent at least the last six years of their marriage ‘secretly plundering significant sums of their marital assets’ to spend on a string of mistresses around the world.
They reportedly included a hairdresser, Brown’s personal trainer, a politician on the Caribbean island of Anguilla where they had a holiday home, and a twentysomething Dutch horse trainer on whom Brown lavished expensive presents including a £277,000 prize Friesian horse.
‘Dan has lived a proverbial life of lies for at least the past six years, seeming to be the epitome of a world-famous novelist leading a simple life in his home state of New Hampshire, while in reality he was something quite different,’ her lawsuit claims.
‘For years, Dan has secretly removed substantial funds from his and Blythe’s hard-earned marital assets to conduct sordid extra-marital affairs with women — one half his age — and to pursue a clandestine life.’
The alleged ‘secret double life’ is, sadly, more prosaic than the complex mysteries revealed in The Da Vinci Code, published in 2003 and one of the most successful books ever written. Pictured: The film starred Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou
While she believed their relationship was ‘based on mutual trust, respect and honesty’, for years the author ‘engaged in a systematic pattern of deception and lies’, it adds.
The Browns met in California in 1990, long before he achieved any success as a writer, and married seven years later.
Acknowledging her crucial help in crafting his books, Dan Brown went on to amass an estimated £128 million fortune — becoming one of the world’s wealthiest writers — from a string of bestsellers based around the adventures of Robert Langdon, a professor of art and ‘symbology’ at Harvard University.
The Da Vinci Code alone has sold at least 100 million copies, despite prompting Catholic outcry over its claim that Jesus and Mary Magdalene married and had a child.
That book and two others — Angels & Demons and Inferno — were turned into blockbuster films starring Tom Hanks.
Brown has repeatedly acknowledged his wife’s importance to his career, telling the Mail on Sunday in 2017: ‘I probably wouldn’t have written [The Da Vinci Code] without her.’
In the book’s acknowledgements section, he calls her ‘without a doubt the most astonishingly talented woman I have ever known’.
And in an unrelated 2005 legal action in London over claims he plagiarised portions of The Da Vinci Code — which Brown won — he specifically credited her with his including Mary Magdalene and a ‘bloodline theory’ concerning the Holy Grail into the fast-paced story.
Now 67, she is almost 12 years older than him.
The couple had no children, Brown saying three years ago that it was intentional, as they wanted to be ‘creative’. He added: ‘We’ve got seven books, those are the kids.’
Brown’s mistresses included a twentysomething Dutch horse trainer Judith Pietersen on whom Brown lavished expensive presents including a £277,000 prize Friesian horse
Having repeatedly denied plagiarism claims, Brown said in 2017: ‘You can say you hate my book but don’t say I’m a liar or a cheater.’
Yet his ex-wife is now alleging he is both of these.
She is suing the author for misrepresenting the couple’s wealth in a sworn financial affidavit he signed as part of their divorce agreement, and for intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
She said in a statement on Monday: ‘This lawsuit is about standing up for myself and asserting my self-worth.
‘I have continually tried to absorb the shocking truth withheld during our divorce that Dan had been leading a double life for years during our marriage, all while coming home to me.
‘I trusted this man for decades as my life’s love. We worked so hard together, struggling to build something meaningful… I don’t recognise the man that Dan has become. It is time to reveal his deceit and betrayal. After so much pain, it is time for truth. It is time to right these wrongs.’
Brown says he is ‘stunned’ she is making what he insists are ‘false claims’, saying he was fair and truthful in their divorce settlement.
‘On the day Blythe and I married, I never remotely thought that we would grow so far apart,’ he said.
He added: ‘I am saddened that there is not enough goodwill from 21 years of marriage to temper her unfortunate actions.’
His ex-wife contends that she first noticed he had changed significantly in 2014. Her lawsuit states that he started to act distantly, dress differently and start ‘heated arguments’ with her ‘seemingly over nothing’.
She says he announced four years later that he was unhappy and wanted a separation, telling her they had ‘grown apart’ but that he thought they could ‘still enjoy their ‘happily-ever-after’ as close friends with a continued mutual respect’.
In August 2018, she reluctantly moved out of their ‘marital dream home’ in Rye Beach, New Hampshire.
He asked for a divorce and she agreed to his request for a quiet and quick settlement, believing his assurances that he had been fully honest with her and trusting in their joint financial adviser.
They agreed to divide their ‘purported’ marital assets as of July 2018, only for her to uncover — after their divorce was finalised in December 2019 — ‘the truth about Dan’s secret double life and fraudulent representations relating to their marital assets and his misconduct’.
She alleges that for many years he was secretly having an affair with a champion equestrian and horse trainer in her 20s — mentioned in court papers as JP but clearly identifiable as Judith Pietersen — living in the Netherlands.
She had been introduced to Brown by his wife, herself a keen equestrian, after she hired the younger woman in late 2013 to come to New Hampshire and help train the Browns’ Friesian horse, Daniel de G.
To Mrs Brown, she became a ‘friend and confidante’ and she even invited her to attend the 50th birthday party she threw for Dan.
When Ms Pietersen complained of shoulder pain from botched surgery in the Netherlands, Mrs Brown arranged and paid for her to have corrective surgery in New Hampshire in October 2014, later inviting her to recuperate at the Browns’ home.
It was during that time, while Mrs Brown was away at a horse show, that the trainer and the author began an affair that Brown told his ex-wife is still continuing, says the lawsuit.
Unknown to Mrs Brown, her husband removed ‘substantial amounts’ from their bank accounts and marital assets and used them to buy ‘extravagant’ gifts for his lover, say court papers.
‘The net effect of these transgressions substantially reduced the marital estate,’ says the lawsuit.
The presents reportedly included paying for the refurbishment of Ms Pietersen’s flat in Holland, a new car and a two-horse transporter lorry.
Brown’s ex-wife claims he spent at least the last six years of their marriage ‘secretly plundering significant sums of their marital assets’ to spend on a string of mistresses around the world
He allegedly also financed ‘an entire horse-training business in Holland for her’, including paying £36,000 for a horse that Ms Pietersen named Da Vinci in his honour.
However, her business and career was ‘catapulted … into the big leagues’ by Brown buying her — again with the couple’s money — a ‘highly coveted, prizewinning’ Friesian stallion named LimiTed Edition for $345,000 (£276,000), says the lawsuit.
Brown reportedly told the horse’s owner he intended the horse to be a ‘surprise gift’ for Blythe.
According to his ex-wife, he paid for it with ‘secret’ money wire transfers that used the name of his literary editor ‘to avoid detection’.
Brown kept full ownership of the horse but it led to ‘major career opportunities for the young rider, including a potential Olympic bid’, says the suit.
In 2017, the Dutch Press announced that Ms Pietersen was starting her own horse business with the generous support of an ‘anonymous sponsor’ who, she said, ‘puts such trust in her’.
A few months later, LimiTed Edition won a Horse of the Year competition.
‘That ‘anonymous sponsor’ was Dan Brown, who was secretly using substantial sums of the Browns’ marital assets without Blythe’s knowledge’, says the lawsuit.
In fact, Mrs Brown was so in the dark that she went to the Netherlands with Ms Pietersen in 2018 to an attend an annual stallion show in which the Dutch woman rode the horse.
When Mrs Brown confronted her ex-husband in January this year after learning about the secret wire transfers, he allegedly acknowledged he had deceived her personally and financially, saying: ‘I’ve done bad things with a lot of people.’
Pressed, he admitted an affair with a local hairdresser she knew and later came clean about his Dutch ‘paramour’, say the court papers.
Mrs Brown says he also cheated on her with a politician in Anguilla, a British Overseas Territory in the eastern Caribbean, where they had a home, and with his personal trainer in New Hampshire.
Her suit alleges that he also lied to her about his work and future projects, telling her he had no upcoming projects despite her learning that he has several, including a TV series, Langdon, based on the novels the couple ‘created together’.
The lawsuit claims Brown ‘stands to make millions from these projects, which is undoubtedly why he hid them from Blythe’.
It also includes an email from Blythe to Brown from February in which she asked him if his family knew about ‘your relationship with Judith’. He replied: ‘No. They would be horrified.’
The lawsuit specifies undisclosed damages but Mrs Brown says the injury hasn’t just been financial.
‘Blythe’s sense of pain, humiliation, betrayal and anguish is unbearable and debilitating,’ says her lawsuit.
‘She has great difficulty eating or sleeping, and Dan has caused her to suffer significant emotional distress.’
It adds: ‘Although finally admitting to his years of deception, Dan has yet to remedy the harm Blythe has suffered.’
The lawsuit goes to great lengths to emphasise the key role she played in Brown’s enormous success.
When they first met, she was working in the music industry as director of artist development at the National Academy of Songwriters in Los Angeles, while — says the lawsuit — ‘Dan was a struggling songwriter without real prospects’.
She tried to help him break into the music industry but it proved unsuccessful and they moved to New Hampshire, where he worked as a teacher and she as a dental assistant.
The lawsuit goes to great lengths to emphasise the key role she played in Brown’s enormous success
The lawsuit goes on: ‘It was Blythe who recognised Dan’s literary skills and talents, and unlimited potential as a writer of fiction.’
After they married in 1997, she was a ‘full partner in what might be called ‘the Dan Brown phenomenon’ ‘ and ‘no bystander’.
It was Blythe, says the lawsuit, who was the ‘driving force’ for The Da Vinci Code, giving up her job and developing ‘the premise of the critical concepts, historical emphases and complex plot twists of the now famous novel’.
Brown has said he was once a devout Christian and the lawsuit claims he was ‘uncomfortable’ about inventing a relationship between Mary Magdalene and Jesus, but his wife pushed him to ‘adopt this fascinating pre-mise’.
The lawsuit adds: ‘Simply stated, theirs was a joint enterprise in the fullest sense.’
Brown has been mocked for ending every chapter of his books with a cliffhanger.
He is certainly perched on one now.