Latest news with #AspinallFoundation
Daily Mail
15 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Nepo baby, 21, is spitting image of '90s TV star mother as she cuddles lion in Africa - but can you guess who her famous parent is?
A nepo baby looked the spitting image of her 90s TV star mother as she cuddled a lion in Africa. The conservationist and model, 21, recently took to her Instagram to share a video of herself cuddling two lions before releasing them into the wild with her father. Resting her head on one lion, she penned: 'My beautiful ZEMO on the day we released him in Africa. I can't wait to see him soon.' The 21-year-old has followed in both of her famous parents' footsteps as she dropped out of school to pursue her interests in both the entertainment and conservation industries. She now boasts 1.5 million followers on Instagram and regularly gives fans an insight into her daily life surrounded by animals. But can you guess who the nepo baby and her famous parents are? That's right! It's Freya Aspinall, the daughter of English actress Donna Air and businessman Damian Aspinall. Donna was just 21 when she met and fell in love with multimillionaire Damian, who was 40 at the time. They were introduced at a dinner party in 2000 by mutual friend, former It Girl Tara Palmer-Tomkinson, and went on to have a seven-year relationship, before they split in July 2007. Damian owns The Aspinall Foundation, which partners with Howletts Wild Animal Park, founded by his father John Aspinall. The Aspinall Foundation is a British charity founded in 1984 that strives to promote wildlife conservation and return captive animals back to the wild, while also running projects abroad to protect endangered species. It runs both Howletts and Port Lympne Park, which is set on 600 acres and houses many rare and endangered species, with the largest breeding herd of black rhinos in the UK. Freya has inherited her father's love of conservation and dedicates her time to caring for various animals in the sanctuary and is being lined up to one day inherit his position as chair of the Aspinall Foundation. She has also inherited her mother's good looks as she became the youngest model on the books of Storm, the agency discovered by Kate Moss, in 2018. But rather than spend most of her time on the runway, she spends her days in the park caring for orphaned lion cubs and gorillas. The influencer uses her Instagram to promote the importance of conversation work, sharing heartwarming videos of her cuddling with big cats and feeding gorillas by hand in their enclosures, raking in an impressive 1.5million followers. Freya has shown she's not a typical 'nepo baby', with it being reported that when she signed her modelling contract she insisted she would use her profile to promote conservation issues. Calling herself a 'mini version' of dad Damian, she has said if she ever books a magazine cover it will be as a conservationist rather than a model. Speaking to the Financial Times, she admitted: 'I grew up with animals and couldn't imagine my world without them. This is in my blood – I've always known what I wanted to do.' And it's no wonder she shares such a close bond with animals, after being placed in in a gorilla enclosure at Howletts as a baby to be carried off by the female of the group. It was a ritual Damian had carried out with his first two daughters, Tansy and Clary, from his 15-year marriage to Louise Sebag-Montefiore. Describing his plans for Freya at the time, he told London's Evening Standard: 'It's a ritual. I'll probably give her to the dominant female who will take her off, sex her, and introduce her to the others. I did this with my other daughters, now it's Freya's turn.' While Donna fully approved of the plan because she did not believe that Freya would be in any danger. Damian added: 'Why would I not trust them? I know them, I grew up with them. They are my friends.' And Freya is certainly not afraid of getting up and close to exotic animals at the family wildlife park. She has described Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent where she loves to feed the giraffes as one of her 'favourite places to be'. She's often seen cuddling and feeding treats to a pair of gorillas, Silverback Kifu and Tambabi, that she has known since birth.
The Sun
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Nepo-baby looks just like her 90s TV star mum as she cuddles a lion in Africa – but can you guess who she is?
TV star Donna Air's daughter Freya Aspinall looks just like her mum as she cuddles a huge lion in Africa. The 21-year-old conservationist is seen cuddling two lions in a recent video before releasing them into the wild with her dad Damien. 7 7 7 7 Freya works with The Aspinall Foundation, a charity run by her father, Damian Aspinall, and founded by her grandfather, the late John Aspinall. Freya rests her head on a lion in one photo on Instagram, and penned: "My beautiful ZEMO on the day we released him in Africa. I can't wait to see him soon." Freya spent much of her childhood surrounded by animals at Howletts and Port Lympne Wild Animal Parks in Kent. She now boasts 1.5m followers on Instagram, where she shares videos and pics of her life, and she says conservation is in her DNA. 'I grew up with animals and couldn't imagine my world without them,' she recently told the Financial Times. 'This is in my blood – I've always known what I wanted to do.' However, she has inherited Donna's striking features and is also very close to her TV star mum. It's been more than three decades since Donna shot to fame as a child star on Byker Grove, alongside Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly. She later swapped acting for presenting, landing gigs on shows including MTV UK and The Big Breakfast. A string of cameo film roles followed before she participated in reality shows Splash!, Celebrity MasterChef and the tenth series of Dancing On Ice. Amazing moment millionaire conservationist Damian Aspinall's wife meets the tender gorillas he bred in Africa Donna, 45, is also known for having an on-off relationship for four years with Kate Middleton's brother James Middleton. Freya's parents, Donna and Damian, were introduced in 2000 at a dinner party by their friend Tara Palmer-Tomkinson. Donna was 21, Damian 40, and their relationship and parenting style quickly made headlines. Shortly after Freya's birth, the couple famously said they planned to place their baby in a gorilla enclosure at Howletts, allowing her to be carried off by a female gorilla. The move was a tradition Damian carried out with his eldest daughters when they were babies. In another video Freya feeds a gorilla snacks from her pocket. She says: "Animals don't belong in a cage in zoos they belong in the wild. We hate zoos. "Kifu is at our sanctuary because his wife's who are a little bit older than him need medical attention 3 times a day and wouldn't survive the journey back to Africa. "Gorillas live in a family group, so it would be completely unnatural to send him alone and separate him from his family. "It's the same as humans if we were sent away never to see our family again we would all be so unhappy. "So for him we give him the best life possible sadly at our sanctuary but his 5 sons are happily free in the wild where they belong. "It's important to highlight any animal that can go back to the Wild should go back to the Wild and those that 100% can't should be given the best life possible, but this shouldn't be an excuse for zoos to keep all animals behind a bars for their business." 7 7
USA Today
24-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Rescued lion kissed until it falls asleep in heartwarming video
How do you lull a restless orphaned lion to sleep? You smother it with kisses. The accompanying footage shows Freya Aspinall of the Aspinall Foundation kissing an orphaned lion named ZIMI into a state of peaceful slumber. ZIMI is a rescue project and the Aspinall Foundation's goal with all rescued animals is to return as many of them as possible back into the African wilderness. The top comment below Aspinall's Instagram post: 'Hard to watch someone else living my dream.'
