Three months ago, the Moss family had a gathering at a pub in Notting Hill, West London.

Organised by Nick, Kate Moss's younger brother, it offered a rare chance for Kate to come together with her wayward half-sister Lottie — along with Peter, their father, and his second wife Inger.

It was hoped model Kate, 49, who has been on the cover of Vogue more than 40 times, might quietly forgive 25-year old Lottie, who makes money by stripping off for racy snaps on tawdry website OnlyFans.

You might wonder what tattooed Lottie must be forgiven for. Those in Kate's camp say the issue is her habit of taking aim at her half-sister every time she talks, although her career direction is also a factor.

Sadly, neither woman came away feeling any warmer towards the other. And Kate was apparently particularly horrified to see Lottie's recent face tattoo — the word 'lover' under her eye.

Different direction: Lottie Moss, left, and half-sister Kate Moss

A pal says: 'She knows how valuable your face is as a model. It was the final straw. She loves her as a sister but they have nothing to do with each other.'

Another source close to Kate says she believes Lottie has been 'cheapening' the Moss brand with her career direction — she's been 'modelling' for adult subscription websites since 2021.

The Moss name is something that Kate is keen to protect as she steers the career of daughter Lila, 20, who models as Lila Moss rather than Lila Hack (her family name from dad Jefferson).

Lila is among a select band of 20 represented by Kate's own Kate Moss Agency, founded in 2016.

Now living in New York, Lila has worked for her mum's good friend, designer Marc Jacobs.

'Kate is concerned about her name. Her legacy is in her career but it is also in Lila's,' says a source. 'The name Moss is precious. She thinks it is a big factor in making money and being a success.

'Kate doesn't like being associated with Lottie professionally. There was a time when she raised the idea of Lottie using her mother's maiden name rather than Lottie Moss,' the source said.

One can only imagine how unwanted that would have made Lottie feel.

But the truth is, despite sharing a father, their childhoods never coincided — and the age gap between them is yawning.

Lottie grew up in Haywards Heath, West Sussex, with her travel agent father Peter Moss and her Norwegian mother, Inger Solnordal, his second wife. She attended fee-paying Bede's School in Hailsham.

Meanwhile, Kate and her brother Nick grew up a world away in Sanderstead, Croydon. Their mother, Peter's first wife Linda, worked as a barmaid and Kate had Saturday shop jobs and hung out in the park and drank cider. School was the local comprehensive, Riddlesdown High School.

She was spotted by Sarah Doukas, boss of the model agency Storm, at JFK airport in New York aged 14; a shoot for The Face when she was 16 launched her career.

Both women have a rebellious outlook but, while Kate is regarded as the epitome of cool, Lottie's rebellions make her look lost.

Take the question of their figures.

Kate, flat-chested with snaggled teeth, and too short for the catwalk at 5ft 7in, was worlds away from supermodel perfection yet netted a £40 million fortune.

Lottie, at 5ft 6in, had surgery as a teen to give her the breasts she coveted, and has altered her pretty face with lip fillers.

Kate, flat-chested with snaggled teeth, and too short for the catwalk at 5ft 7in, was worlds away from supermodel perfection yet netted a £40 million fortune. Lottie, at 5ft 6in, had surgery as a teen to give her the breasts she coveted, and has altered her pretty face with lip fillers

Lottie told a podcast this year: 'I knew Kate was famous — growing up, I idolised her. I never got much love or attention from her, though, which upset me. How do I say to people I don't know her and she doesn't reply to my texts?'

It wasn't always that way. After all, Kate invited her 13-year-old half-sister to be a bridesmaid at her 2011 wedding to Jamie Hince. Lottie signed for Storm, then Kate's model agency, soon after.

Lottie crowed — somewhat tactlessly — that her mother Inger had told her that nobody had been looking at Kate on her wedding day, instead they had been wondering at Lottie's beauty.

Although Lottie initially booked jobs with Bulgari and Valentino, these soon faded and the trajectory of her career headed downmarket. She and Kate have barely been spotted together since.

Just before the pandemic she went to California, saying she was turning her back on high fashion and its 'toxic' people. She did, however, spend some of lockdown living with Kate in the Cotswolds, but moved on, leaving wine in the fridge, interpreted as a pointed comment on Kate's sobriety.

For her part, it was said that Kate had deplored Lottie's heavy drinking and habit of posting suggestively on social media.

Subsequently, Lottie signed up for OnlyFans and was dropped by Storm. This week, Lottie has sought publicity to promote her appearance in E4's Celebs Go Dating, airing tomorrow from 9pm.

In interviews, she took further swipes at her older half-sibling in an apparent reference to Kate's own reported struggles with substance abuse: 'My sister has obviously struggled with things herself. She's allowed to have that.

'She doesn't have to want to have a relationship with me. When I was younger, I couldn't understand it. I thought, "Why is someone in my family not wanting a relationship with me?" I don't get it.

'But now I've learned, speaking to other friends . . . that family is complicated. Just because she's a really high-end model, it doesn't mean that it's any different in our family. We just don't see eye to eye on many things. I love her. She's my sister, but we're just not close. It is what it is.'

Friends of Kate's can't dispute this, but wish that Lottie would just stop talking about her: 'Kate has preserved her mystique, giving only a handful of interviews. But Lottie seems to treat them like free therapy and says the first thing that comes into her head.'

Certainly Lottie attracted headlines recently, commenting on rumours that she had a liaison with the married Made In Chelsea star Spencer Matthews.

'It's not true,' she responded. 'Spencer's a great guy. We partied but there was nothing more to it!'

She also added that she was in touch with Kate's daughter Lila, which Kate's friends dispute.

'Barring family gatherings, they have very little to do with each other,' says one.

Other factors are at play, too. Lottie went to rehab in Arizona in 2021 and said on social media that she had a 'bad addiction to coke'. She now believes her struggles were, in fact, a result of undiagnosed ADHD and said this week: 'I'm in a very happy place in my life right now, being very true to myself for the first time in a long time.'

That face tattoo — inked when she was drunk in Bali last year — was an expression of her new sense of freedom, she says, but she tends to cover it with make- up.

Kate, of course, has had her own alleged struggles. Last November, she suddenly dropped from view in order to recharge her batteries, coinciding with her break-up with her long-term boyfriend, Count Nikolai von Bismarck.

A friend of Kate's says that she has to be 'very wary' and 'on her guard' in order to stay sober. 'She's clear that she cannot be around people who are drinking heavily or using drugs.'

Lottie now plans to emulate her sister's model agency by launching her own — of OnlyFans models.

She said: 'I have the right amount of knowledge and expertise to help girls with online stuff. As an agency, we will manage their accounts. And I'll make sure they get the money they deserve.'

She added: 'I want to make sure the girls are looked after.'

Who, one wonders, is looking after Lottie?