
In 2005, the frizzy-haired, Sorbonne-educated red-head—one of the highest paid editors in Britain—was arrested on suspicion of drunkenly assaulting her husband, soap star Ross Kemp (check him out here embedded with a British infantry group in Afghanistan!). According to the Guardian, Wade, who had run a series of stories in the Sun aimed at stamping out domestic violence, had been with Kemp at a smallish birthday party for Matthew Freud, Sigmund's great-grandson and the husband of Rupert's TV executive daughter, Elisabeth Murdoch (Rupert was also in attendance). Sometime between the end of the party and 4 a.m., Wade and Kemp got into an argument that resulted in Kemp calling the police. When they arrived, he was nursing a "small abrasion" on his lip; Wade was summarily cuffed and hauled off to jail, where she spent the night before being released at noon the next day.
While Fleet Street predictably had a field day with the story ("Hard man of EastEnders is decked by the Ginger Ninja," ran one representative headline), both parties involved attempted to downplay the incident. "It was a silly row which got out of hand," said Wade. "A lot of fuss about nothing," said Kemp. Most importantly, the fracas did little to imperil Wade's relationship with Rupert. "Make light of it—I am," he reportedly told Sun staffers. It has been speculated that Wade and Kemp are no longer together, though most British tabs haven't run with this.
If Wade actually has been tapped to replaced Allan, where's Allan off to next? We can only hope that Rupert plans on putting him to work at the Wall Street Journal; any other suggestions?