'The Crown': Who was Kelly Fisher and did she file a lawsuit against Dodi Fayed after he left her for Princess Diana?

• "The Crown" season six features Kelly Fisher, the woman Dodi Fayed dated before Princess Diana.
• Fisher claimed they were already engaged when he became romantically involved with Diana.

The first four episodes of "The Crown" season six, which are now streaming on Netflix, chronicle the developing romance between Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki) and Egyptian multimillionaire and film producer Dodi Fayed (Khalid Abdalla).

It also depicts the breakdown of Fayed's relationship with his girlfriend, the American model and actor Kelly Fisher (Erin Richards), whom viewers were previously introduced to in season five.

In season six, Fisher returns as Fayed's fiancée, though their romance is far from smooth sailing.

Here's everything you need to know about Fayed and Fisher's relationship, and the details of the lawsuit she brought against Fayed after he allegedly broke off their engagement.

Whether Fisher and Fayed were engaged to be married became a major point of contention in real life

As viewers saw in the final moments of season five, despite the fact Dodi's father, former Harrods owner Mohamed Al-Fayed, withheld his blessing for their relationship, Fayed decided to present a ring to Fisher.

In real life, less than a year later, Fisher learned alongside the rest of the world that Fayed was rumored to be romantically involved with Princess Diana.

As depicted in the second episode of season six, the Sunday Mirror published photos of the pair embracing on a boat on August 10, 1997, just three weeks before their deaths.

A few days later, Fisher filed a lawsuit against Fayed for breaking off their engagement.

Per The Irish Times, after Fisher announced her legal action, a spokesman for the Fayeds was quoted as saying that Fayed knew Fisher but had never been engaged to her.

Further confusion about the nature of Fayed and Fisher's relationship emerged in 2008 when transcripts of a telephone conversation between Fayed and Fisher from August 1997 were made public in an inquest into Fayed and Diana's deaths.

In the call, which took place after Fisher learned that Fayed had holidayed with the late Princess of Wales and her sons in Saint-Tropez, Fayed insisted that he and Fisher were broken up at the time.

However, Fisher was firm in her belief that they were still together, responding: "We were together the whole time and you knew it. You knew it."

Fisher sued Fayed for $440,000 4 days after the now-famous kiss photos

On August 14, Fisher appeared at a press conference in Los Angeles wearing the $233,000 sapphire and diamond engagement ring that Fayed had allegedly given her as her lawyer, Gloria Allred, revealed to international press how the film producer had "led her emotionally all the way up to the altar and abandoned her when they were almost there," per The Independent.

Allred said that she had filed a breach-of-contract suit in Santa Monica Superior Court, claiming that her client had experienced a loss of earnings because Fayed had asked Fisher to put her thriving cover model career on hold after he promised to take care of her financially.

Per the Associated Press, in the suit, Fisher contended that Fayed had offered her $500,000 to give up her career, but had only received $60,00, and a $20,000 cheque that bounced. Accordingly, she was seeking the remaining $440,000.

After the infamous photos of Diana and Fayed kissing were published — which is how she allegedly learned of her fiancé's infidelity — Fisher's attempts to contact Fayed proved unsuccessful and she was told by a family member not to call anymore, Fisher's lawyer said.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the couple, who got engaged in 1996, had set their wedding date for August 9, 1997, before Fayed postponed it.

Fisher, via her lawyer, also offered to meet Princess Diana "anywhere in the world on a confidential basis" to discuss the situation.

Fisher's mother sat beside her and comforted her crying daughter at the event, and insisted that "no one's daughter deserves to be treated as my daughter was."

Fisher herself only spoke once at the conference. When asked whether she would ever reconcile with Fayed or continue to see him as a friend, she responded: "No."

The suit was dropped out of respect for Fayed's family following his death on August 31, 1997

After Fayed was killed alongside Princess Diana in a car crash in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France, Fisher withdrew her suit, reported the Associated Press.

On September 1, 1997, Allred told the press that Fisher had dropped her lawsuit and "forgives" her ex-fiance.

"Out of respect for the tragedy, and tremendous loss the Fayed family has suffered, she has authorized me as her attorney, to dismiss her lawsuit against Mr. Fayed," Allred said in a prepared statement.

"Although she does have the legal right to pursue the lawsuit against his estate after his death, she has voluntarily chosen not to exercise that right."

This article was originally published on November 18, 2022, and was last updated on November 16, 2023.