They were three simple words, softly spoken, but the effect they had on the congregation in St Mary’s Church in Thame, Oxfordshire, was electrifying.Bee Gee Barry Gibb, delivering a eulogy at his brother Robin’s funeral earlier this month, spoke about his brother’s family, and his love for his children Spencer, Melissa, and RJ.
Then he added: ‘And little Snow.’
Captured: This picture of Robin and his mistress Claire Yang was taken by a Bee Gees fan at the West Inn Bellevue in Dresden on September 23
‘Everyone talked about Robin and his children but carefully made no mention of Snow. Then Barry just went ahead and did it. He just came out with it quietly and naturally.
‘When Barry said the child’s name, it was as if a bullet went right through the church. We couldn’t quite believe our ears.’
On that grey June day, Snow Robin Gibb was 25 miles away in a smart detached house in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, with her mother Claire Yang. Now three, she is an enchanting young girl, with pale brown hair and chocolate eyes.
Neighbours often hear her playing and laughing in the garden. Miss Yang, who had been the Gibbs’ housekeeper, refused to say why she chose not to attend the funeral with Snow, acknowledged as Robin’s daughter.
But you might imagine she was influenced by stories suggesting Robin Gibb’s widow Dwina would ‘hate’ it if she turned up.
So what is the truth about Claire Yang, now 37, and her romance with Robin Gibb? And what will she do now that he has sadly passed away?
The mistress: Claire Yang with her and Robin Gibb's baby daughter Snow Evelyn Robin Juliet Gibb
The picture here of Robin and Claire, side-by-side in the lobby of the exclusive five-star Westin Bellevue Hotel in Dresden, is the first photograph to emerge of them as a couple. It was taken by a fan in September 2004 when the star was in the middle of a German concert tour.
Robin’s comment after Snow’s birth was charmingly enigmatic: ‘New life is heaven sent and a blessing. That’s what I can say about children and life.’
To the surprise of many, he and Dwina remained married, and Miss Yang moved out to a rented property nearby. In the early weeks he was a regular visitor. Robin explained towards the end of 2009 that his having had a mistress and a baby outside the marriage had been irrelevant to his family life with Dwina.
‘Our relationship is rock-solid and that’s the most important thing to me,’ he said.
Friends of the Gibbs say that this must have been intensely painful for Claire to hear, because she had been desperately in love with her employer for years. Indeed, according to one friend who spoke on the condition of anonymity, she had actually hoped that Robin would eventually leave Dwina for her.
Born in Braintree, Essex, in 1975, Claire Yang is the daughter of Dick, a computer systems engineer, and Evelyn, a one-time bank clerk. And although she was a baby herself when the band found fame, she is also, significantly, a big Bee Gees fan.
Gibb’s friend says: ‘She was a fan who was taken on as paid staff. And from there, of course, it was a dream come true to have a relationship with Robin.’
Miss Yang, who started out as a housekeeper, worked both at the couple’s 12th-century mansion in Thame and at their waterfront spread in Miami, Florida. Records show that she lived in Miami for a time.
The friend says: ‘She was absolutely and desperately in love with Robin. The word I would use is obsessively in love. My view is she probably thought she would run off into the sunset with him, but that was never going to happen. Dwina would never give him up, and they loved each other.’
Claire started working for Robin Gibb in 2001, and it has been claimed there was a romance from the early days, although I’m told it only became obvious rather later.
Together: Robin Gibb and wife Dwina Gibb - it is though Dwina hated the thought of Claire Yang and Snow turning up at Robin's funeral.
Dwina, it appears, was well used to his flings. They had married in 1985 and, as a bisexual former Druid priestess, she was far from a conventional person.
Her husband once revealed they had an ‘open marriage’ and she confirmed: ‘We have an open relationship. Robin has had flings with friends of mine and he talks to me about them.’
The friend says: ‘When he travelled in those years, Claire would come out and look after him completely, she was devoted to his every need. It would not have gone as far as it did if it was some kind of a casual fling.........
Source: the Dailymail
