EX-ENGLAND star Jermaine Jenas is fighting to save his 13-year marriage to the mother of three of his children amid his sexting shame.
He confessed to lying to wife Ellie during a family holiday and sneaking off to take a Zoom call with BBC bosses over his X-rated messages.
Emotional Jenas is now trying to claw back their relationship after telling his wife he had been dismissed for sending inappropriate messages to two female colleagues.
He told The Sun: “We’ve not really spoken properly since. She’s absolutely raging.”
Jenas, who also has a teenage daughter from a previous relationship, said he has been kicked out of the bedroom the couple shared at their £1million home in Hertfordshire.
Tearfully, he admitted he did not know if Ellie would forgive him.
Praising her as an “amazing mother”, he said she was solely focused on the care of their two daughters and young son.
Jenas explained: “It’s just about the children right now. It’s the school holidays and they’re trapped in the house because photographers are outside my house.
“They’re like, ‘What’s going on, Daddy?’. It’s tough.”
He added: “I’ve got to take responsibility and I’ve apologised to all of them.
“I don’t know what to say about that, to be honest with you.
“It’s just hard at home for the kids right now. My wife’s a real one.
“My wife is solid and she’s amazing. She is kind. She just needs some time.”
Jenas went on to praise Ellie for standing by him during his football career, where he previously said he was “single-minded and selfish to succeed”.
The shamed star still counts top players, including former England captain David Beckham, among his pals.
Last year, Jenas and Ellie clashed as he started spending more time socialising with his One Show work colleagues.
The presenter said: “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 fulfilment in her own life.”
The pair had explosive rows but, Jenas admitted, they quietly worked through their issues with the help of couples therapy.
Opening up for the first time about seeking help, Jenas said: “It was for marriage stuff really. We’ve done some work together in the past.
“But that’s my wife’s business, if I’m totally honest with you. I prefer not to really go into that.
“We’ve been together about 15 years now. And it takes work, you know, throughout the whole process.”
Jenas and Ellie had been on holiday in Marbella, Spain, with their three children when the calls from the BBC first came in.
I just said, ‘I’ve been sacked from the BBC’. She said, ‘What for?’, and I said, ‘For sending text messages that weren’t appropriate to two girls’.
Jermaine Jenas
After learning he had been fired, Jermaine was forced to come clean when Ellie believed he would be going to work on The One Show on Monday.
He said: “I was obviously hoping that I maybe would have got a suspension of some sort.
“I had to tell her by Monday evening because I knew then that I’d been fired.
“I just said, ‘I’ve been sacked from the BBC’.
“She said, ‘What for?’, and I said, ‘For sending text messages that weren’t appropriate to two girls’.
“Ellie is absolutely raging. She’s human.
“When I see her now, she is just making sure the children are OK.”
The repercussions of Jenas’s sexting have not just affected his marriage to ex-model Ellie, whom he wed in 2011 when he was on loan at Aston Villa.
While Jenas has been referred to a therapist by his doctor, he fears his two eldest daughters — who are 11 and 16 — may fall victim to bullying because of his antics.
Jenas said: “There have been difficult conversations to have with my 16-year-old and my 11-year-old.
“They’re obviously of an age where they’re aware of social media and other bits and pieces. That’s been hard.
“I’ve let everyone down. When you’ve got kids, man.
“Even my dog looked at me disappointed.
“But with the kids, I think this is where I’m hoping the help will go a long way for me.
“There are certain moments where I’m doing certain things where it’s just a complete, almost like a blackout of what I’m doing and I can’t be behaving like that.
“I can’t be taking so many risks with my own life, essentially.”
Jenas insists the messages that he shared with the two women were consensual.
However, he is reeling from the effects of his deceit.
When asked if he is more concerned about losing his livelihood or his family, he immediately responds: “My family by a mile. There’s something in me that’s praying that there is some level of mercy within it all, or understanding of the fact we’re human beings and we make mistakes.
“Some bigger than others — and mine is a big mistake.
“After each hour, it’s just like wave after wave. You just go numb.
“Then it’s, ‘Are my kids OK?’, ‘Is my wife OK?’. You know, just constantly checking up on that.”
Jenas insisted Ellie should not fear more women would be coming out of the woodwork. When asked if there were “more surprises” he replied firmly: “No.”
But he admitted: “Prior to my marriage, to this day, I’ve made a lot of mistakes.
“But it’s time to own it. I have been behaving in a certain way that’s just not been acceptable within our marriage.
“Ellie is completely innocent within all of this. All she’s doing is at home, working her heart out, looking after my children.
“She’s a full-time mum who’s actually starting a business of her own.
“And it’s like, there’s loads of things that she is doing that is carrying the family. And I’m just adding stress, essentially.”
Admitting he had acted like a “d***”, Jenas raises a smile and says: “I think my wife would love you for that.
“The overriding factor is just how sorry I am to everybody.
“Now I am just trying to get as close as I can to my family and be there for them.
“They’re my priority now.”
JERMAINE Jenas made his debut for Nottingham Forest in 2001, at just 17.
The midfielder went on to turn out for Newcastle United, Tottenham, Aston Villa, and QPR, scoring a career total of 39 goals from 341 league appearances.
He won the League Cup with Spurs in 2008.
Jenas also appeared 21 times for the senior England team, scoring once.
He was 19 when he got his first cap in February 2003 and was named PFA Young Player of the Year that season.
Injuries slowed his progress, and he formally announced his retirement in 2016 on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
He became a pundit, first for ITV Sport before joining BT Sport and Match Of The Day.
In 2020 Jenas began co-presenting The One Show and a year later became one of its permanent hosts.
