LA life

It is a sad fact that tales of integrity and real life happy endings are rare in this town, so when one unfolds in front of your own eyes it's a lovely thing to be able to relate.

When I first moved to Los Angeles nearly five years ago, I was introduced to a red-haired girl in her late twenties from Yorkshire. She had a highly developed sense of humour and a down-to-earth, no-nonsense demeanour that stood out a mile.

We became friends. But it was only when I took her with me to a gala evening in Hollywood which I was writing about, and the British press paid her more attention than they did to Elizabeth Taylor that the penny dropped.

She had told me who her father was, but I have to confess here that I had never understood cricket, far less been able to realise the heroic significance of Britain's greatest iconoclastic fast bowler, Fred Trueman.

I should also have known Rebecca from her appearance next to Raquel Welch on the front cover of Hello! magazine, when she married Raquel's son, Damon. But that had been several years before and she would have been the last person to name drop or advertise the fact.

She had just been through the divorce from Damon when I met her, and was facing all the financial and emotional difficulties that such developments present. It was not an easy time and if anything helped her through the dark days, it was the same steely Yorkshire grit that I now know her Dad was famous for.

What impressed me most, however, was seeing how determined she was, not to join the league of "sell and tell" aficionados that this town specialises in.

Having Raquel Welch for a mother-in-law had had its moments. She has, I know, many amusing tales about the big-breasted diva that she could tell. And she has been offered vast sums by magazines and TV shows to do exactly that. But even when she was penniless and acrimonious moments were at their worst, she insisted that integrity was more valuable than any amount of dollars.

Having developed a taste for the sunshine of California, Rebecca decided to stay living in Los Angeles. And two years ago met a level-headed chap from South Carolina called Welborn, as far removed from celebrity tantrums as anyone could be.

They got married last week with a simple family-only ceremony, which her Dad attended. This time, Hello! magazine was not invited. I hope their happiness lasts forever.