Disgraced PR guru Max Clifford’s daughter Louise, 51, who spent years battling to clear her father’s name dies following short battle with cancer
Louise Clifford, the daughter of the late celebrity publicist Max, has passed away aged 51 following a short battle with cancer, MailOnline can reveal today.
The PR firm co-founder was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when she was just seven and the condition resulted in her spending much of her life in a wheelchair.
She died peacefully at her home on Tuesday surrounded by loved ones.
Author, and Louise’s friend Russ Kane, announced the news on Twitter yesterday, Tweeting: ‘RIP my lovely friend Louise Clifford.
Max Clifford with his daughter Louise outside his indecent assault trial. She has died aged 51
PR woman Louise Clifford with Pop Idol runner up Gareth Gates in 2010
Author, and Louise’s friend Russ Kane, announced the news on Twitter yesterday, Tweeting: ‘RIP my lovely friend Louise Clifford. She was an inspiration through her courage and resilience’
Max Clifford, his wife Liz and daughter Louise at Ross Kemp and Rebekah Wade’s wedding reception
‘Despite endless awful illnesses and countless major operations, being often confined to a wheelchair, she never once complained.
‘We would laugh, joke and take the p*** out of the world.
‘She was an inspiration through her courage and resilience.’
Disgraced PR guru Clifford died in prison aged 74 in December 2017 while serving an eight-year sentence for indecent assault.
Following his death, Louise continued her father’s legal appeal in a bid to posthumously clear her his name.
Louise told how she wanted to ‘restore his reputation,’ according to her lawyer.
But the Court of Appeal dismissed the case in 2019, with the judge saying: ‘Nothing we heard came anywhere near imperilling the safety of his convictions.’
Louise worked alongside her father before he was jailed and in 2014 set up her own talent management and PR firm with former colleagues called Borne Media.
At the height of his powers, Clifford was earning £2.5million a year with his clients including Strictly star Katya Jones, model Sasha Atwood – partner of England footballer Jack Grealish, and boxer Audley Harrison.
Louise had spoken out about her dad’s treatment in jail after he collapsed in Cat C HMP Littlehey in Cambridgeshire in December 2017, three-and-a-half years into his sentence.
He died of heart failure at Hinchingbrooke Hospital near Huntingdon on December 10, 2017, two days after he was taken there by ambulance.
In a statement read at her dad’s inquest she said that his ‘dying months lacked humanity and dignity.’
She said: ‘I could see that he was fading.’
Louise, who battled crippling rheumatoid arthritis from the age of seven, was determined to clear her father’s name, even after his death
Max Clifford, Louise Clifford and Cheryl Barrymore at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2002
Ms Clifford said her father first mentioned ‘feeling tight-chested and unable to take a deep breath’ five months before his death.
A consultant cardiologist recommended an MRI scan saying the right side of his heart looked abnormal.
Louise and Rodney Marsh at one of her father’s charity golf days in Spain in 2011
‘I could see him getting more and more frail,’ Ms Clifford said.
‘He would complain to me daily about the ice-cold showers and cold cell and what a shock to the system it was each time.’
And she added that she wrote to his lawyer and personal doctor ‘in desperation’ as she feared he was dying.
‘I was desperate for him to have his day in court and chance to clear his name,’ she added.
Louise was born in June 1971 in Wimbledon, south west London, and would have turned 52 next month.
She the daughter of Max and his first wife, Liz Porter, who he met at a dance in Croydon in 1963, marrying in June 1967. Liz died lung cancer in 2003.
Louise was first made aware of her medical condition when she developed a swollen finger which wouldn’t go down.
Louise was left in terrible pain, almost unable to walk or write.
Weeks before her 16th birthday, she had her knees replaced and regular operations interrupted her education.
She eventually did her A levels at a boarding college for disabled students and got two As and a B.
Speaking about her illness, Louise previously said: ‘I don’t really have many bad moments where I feel I’m missing out on things.
‘I’m really a positive person, that’s my nature.’
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