HE has called her his “rock through tough times” and gushed that she “deserves the world” in a recent birthday message.
But now Jermaine Jenas’ wife Ellie will be facing one of the toughest trials of their 13-year marriage after he was accused of sending “flirty” and unsolicited messages to young women.
The former England footballer turned presenter, 41, was fired by the BBC after an internal investigation into complaints from multiple women about alleged “inappropriate behaviour”.
Those who have seen the messages, which were allegedly directed to runners who worked on The One Show, were said to have been “horrified”.
The Sun broke the story of the BBC firing Jermaine, who’s paid £190,000-a-year, on Thursday and since then, the corporation has scrubbed him from their websites and removed a giant mural featuring him from their Manchester headquarter’s Media City UK.
In response, Jermaine told talkSPORT listeners: “I can tell you I’m not happy – there are two sides to every story – and I’m going to be speaking with my lawyers on the issue.”
It will be a hammer blow to devoted wife Ellie Penfold, a former model who previously posed for Katie Price’s clothing range – but she is said to be standing by her man.
In the past, Jermaine described her as “a rock” who managed to “keep the family going through tough times” while his presenting career took off.
Since being forced to retire from football in 2016 due to regular injuries, after 340 league appearances and 21 caps for England, he has been on the fast track to the top.
Last year alone, Jermaine was paid between £190,000 and £194,999 for presenting gigs at the BBC. He had work on The One Show, the Euros coverage and the Match of the Day panel.
This comes in addition to his gigs for TNT Sports, formerly BT Sport, including on Formula E racing, a Channel 4 documentary about trainers, a BBC doc about knife crime and radio spots including on talkSPORT.
Until now, Jermaine was the ‘clear favourite’ to take over one of the Beeb’s most prestigious jobs too – fronting Match of the Day, when Gary Lineker steps down, and previously said he would “obviously be up for it”.
Those career highs both in presenting and sports have come at a cost to his personal life – but Ellie has stood resolutely by his side and often picked up the pieces.
He admitted during his football career he was “single-minded and selfish to succeed”, which in turn meant Ellie was often the main caregiver for their children.
The couple have three kids – Geneva, 11, Olivia, eight, and Jacob, two – and the star also has Sancha, 16, who Ellie calls her “bonus daughter.” She lives in the US with her mother.
It seems those same difficulties from Jermaine’s playing career may have reemerged as his radio and TV career began to flourish.
Candidly, the star admitted the problems began again around the time he became a stand-in host for The One Show’s Matt Baker and a year later was named as a permanent host.
This dream BBC gig presenting, alongside Alex Jones, helped him to open up new opportunities away from sport but also caused a “crisis” within his marriage.
Last year, Jermaine told MailOnline about regularly arguing with Ellie over time he spent socialising after filming The One Show while she was left with the kids.
He described it being “quite stressful for both” due to the work pressures and them point scoring until five years ago when they learned to communicate better.
‘It was a lot to do with the kids and the fact that I had this new career starting and I was out and about and meeting new people and going to shows,” Jermaine said.
It was love at first sight when I saw her, but not for her.
Jermaine Jenas
“It was all glitzy but for my wife, it was like nappies, milk… I am a very hands-on dad and I’m always trying to help but still, she wasn’t getting that fulfillment in her own life”
Jermaine admits it got to the point where they were “sick of arguing” after explosive rows, when she thought he was “taking the mick” by not pulling his weight with the kids.
He said: “There was a point where I might finish work and meet some mates in London and get in at like 11pm.
“She would do the school run and then I’d do it again two days later and all of a sudden in her mind she is thinking I’m just going out and taking the mick.”
While Jermaine says it helps that his life is “a bit simpler” now, learning to communicate better helped them immensely.
He explained: “There was a lot of waiting before, we would wait and wait and neither of us knew what was wrong and then that escalated into the biggest argument ever.
“We decided to start having a conversation whenever we felt anything. She would say, ‘Jermaine, I feel like I’m not seeing you enough’ or ‘I feel like I’m doing too much around the house, I’m not getting my life back enough’ and just getting there before the crisis hit.”
He admitted it was only in recent years that they learned to “talk about whatever the frustration may be” to defuse tensions escalating.
“It actually came from being sick of arguing,” Jermaine says. “When you’re in those types of arguments where you’re like, I don’t know why we’re arguing but I’m actually bored with it and this is a really easy fix.
“This is my problem and can you help? More of that mentality rather than the game-playing and the mind games.”
RISING presenting talent Jermaine Jenas has been fired the BBC and taken off The One Show.
The former England and Tottenham Hotspur ace, 41, was let go by the corporation after an internal investigation related to claims about ‘inappropriate behaviour’.
Jermaine, who was tipped as the successor to Gary Lineker on Match of the Day, has said he is “not happy” and insists there are “two sides to every story”.
The ex-footballer has said to have instructed his lawyers as he battles to clear his name amid multiple women coming forward to the BBC.
It’s claimed he sent ‘flirtatious’ and unwanted messages to young female staff at The One Show.
The corporation has since let Jermaine go, removed all existence of him from their websites and taken down a large post featuring the star from their Manchester headquarters Media City.
The Sun was told the saving was “shrouded in secrecy” with top talent including Gary Lineker, Alex Jones and others completely unaware of the allegations.
The Sun broke the story on Thursday afternoon, moments before Jemaine was on air for his talkSPORT Drive show.
Within four minutes, the BBC’s new director of sport Alex Kay-Jelski sent a blunt message to staff that read: “Hi all, I wanted to let you know that Jermaine Jenas is no longer working for the BBC.”
The presenter, who was paid between £190,000 and £194,999 per year, had his contract terminated by the corporation and talkSPORT say there are no plans for the star “in the immediate future”.
To avoid their relationship bubbling over from how they share parental responsibilities, Jermaine revealed they holiday separately to let off steam.
He explained: “Over the last five years, I always say to her once or twice or year, ‘just go away for three days or something.’
“In the summer, she will usually go to Ibiza with her mates and have a good blowout and that’s for her not to have to wake up or think about the kids.”
In turn, Ellie will send him away for golfing holidays with pals – typically three-day trips away to Scotland – but the couple also take trips away together.
They often share envy-inducing snaps from luxurious hotels and resorts around the world including in Dubai, Ibiza and the US – where Sancha lives full-time.
Jermain first met model Ellie while playing for Tottenham Hotspur – little is known about their early days romance apart from her disinterest in his flashy lifestyle.
In 2018, he told the Belfast Telegraph about an ultimatum she gave him, explaining: “It was love at first sight when I saw her, but not for her.
“She wasn’t impressed by this cheeky, cocky guy who thought she’d be bowled over when I drove up in my Ferrari. She actually made me get rid of the car because it was too noisy!
“She’s told me she thought when we first met that I was a bit of an over-confident idiot but I won her over finally.”
Ellie was so unlike other women Jermaine had met that, in 2009, he decided to pop the question. Two years later, they married in a private ceremony.
He added: “She’s down-to-earth, not interested in football and was never impressed by any of the flashiness of it. She stabilised me, calmed me down, helped me grow up and mellow.”
The BBC cannot be seen to be slow to take action [and] in this case, Jermaine was the fall guy and was fired
BBC insider
Jermaine said he was thankful for his wife, who was able to keep “the family going through tough times”.
He explained that she was “totally supportive” as his career was “going downhill” due to injuries and had made personal sacrifices for him to become a big name TV presenter.
But Ellie has also helped him to mature as a man and to become the type of father he wanted to be – he admitted it was only after retiring from football that he “gained a real understanding of parenthood”.
The former sportsman, who has three kids with his wife, revealed he was reluctant to have the last one in 2021 but they were determined to have a boy.
Jermaine, who joked about only wanting a son to have someone to play golf with, said there would be “no more children” during a chat with the Daily Mail last year.
“People always told me you’re done when your Mrs. is done. When we had Olivia, we kind of got our lives back but Ellie said she really wanted to give it one more go at having a boy.
“I was like ‘Here we go’ but we went through it and got our little boy and the minute he arrived she said, ‘We’re never doing this again’ and I was like ‘Sound!’ We’re both on the same page.”
Jermaine’s family life has likely been turned upside down by the allegations of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ but the star is yet to comment, insisting there are “two sides to every story”.
Since the story broke, all traces of the presenter has been removed from the BBC’s websites, the IMDb page for Match of the Day and his long term agent’s MC Saatchi’s website.
A source praised the BBC for having “acted swiftly and decisively” in the wake of the Huw Edwards and Strictly Come Dancing scandals.
They insisted there is “no suggestion of illegality whatsoever” related to Jermaine’s conduct and stated it was “absolutely nothing like Huw’s”.
The insider added: “The BBC cannot be seen to be slow to take action [and] in this case, Jermaine was the fall guy and was fired.
“He has yet to say his side of the story but he has made it known privately to friends he is unhappy.
“Presenters, cast and crew have all been asked not to contact him whilst legal matters are ongoing — as a result a lot of Chinese whispers have been circulating.
“Not even top talent like Alex Jones, Alan Shearer or Gary Lineker knew about this. It was shrouded in secrecy.”
