Home > Categories > Society, Culture, & Scholarship > Broadcasters > Ulrika Jonsson's Biography

Ulrika Jonsson's Biography

 
Browse biogs A-Z
 

Who is Ulrika Jonsson?

Ulrika Jonsson was born on 16th August 1967 in Sollentuna, Stockholm, Sweden.

Her parents divorced when Ulrika was young and she moved to England with her mother when she was 12. Ulrika went to Burnham Grammar School, and then attended secretarial college.

Ulrika Jonsson became PA to Bruce Gyngell the head of TV-am, but left to join a London-based Scandinavian TV Channel; however her break came when she returned to TV-am as their weather presenter in May 1989.

In July 1992 she left TV-am to present LWT's Gladiators, which proved a highly successful show for 7 years.

Ulrika Jonsson appeared in a segment of At Home With Vic And Bob as a contestant and when that idea evolved into the series, Shooting Stars on 22 September 1995, Jonsson was made a team captain.

She fitted into the bizarre spirit of the show perfectly. As a result, she had her own comedy show, It's Ulrika, written by Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer, which was broadcast in August 1997.

Amongst other TV shows, Ulrika Jonsson has hosted Dog Eat Dog, the 50th Anniversary of the Variety Club Awards, the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest with Terry Wogan, Ulrika In Euroland (about the European Monetary Union), National Lottery Dreamworld, Men For Sale, and the 1999 Miss World.

Singer Nicki French has revealed that when one of her favourite Eurovision moments was "Ulrika Jonsson's amazing faux pas in 1998 when the Dutch lady presented their votes and mentioned she'd once been a Eurovision contestant. Ulrika said: "A long time ago, was it?"

Ulrika met Lance Gerrard-Wright while she hosted a TV dating show he was taking part in. According to the format of ITV's Mr Wright he was supposed to fall for one of the women vying for his attention, but instead fell for Ulrika, the presenter, and they married in August 2003.

In October 2005, however, it was announced that Ulrika and Lance were splitting up.

Jonsson's private life has often been a feature of the tabloids. For example, regarding her affair with the England football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Ulrika Jonsson was introduced to Sven by Alistair Campbell. The England manager asked for her phone number right in front of his partner, Nancy Dell'Olio but craftily he spoke in Swedish!

Ulrika had a spell of partnering cameramen. In 1990 she married TV cameraman John Turnbull, but a few years later had an affair with Phil Pietrowski, the Gladiators cameraman. She got back together with Turnbull, and they had a son, Cameron (is the camera theme going too far!), however they divorced in 1995.

She then had an 18 month affair with 'Gladiator', Hunter (aka James Crossley). Additionally she has gone out with football star Stan Collymore, who was revealed to have hit her.

Ulrika had a daughter, Bo, by German businessman Marcus Kempen but he left her in the lurch just six days after the birth.

Within a year of giving birth to her third baby, Martha, Ulrika Jonsson was reported to have lost 4 stones. A lot of the reason was put down to Ulrika's fitness regime, and in May 2005 Ulrika Jonsson ran for child victims of the Asian tsunami in a 5 mile race in Marlow and together with training partner and fitness instructor Jenny Dawes she crossed the line after about 40 minutes.

In 2007, Ulrika Jonsson was the third celebrity to be voted off ITV's Dancing On Ice. She was partnered by Pavel Aubrecht.

In September 2007, Ulrika Jonsson revealed that she was to get married again. This time, to American advertising executive Brian Monet.

They married in March 2008.

At the time, Ulrika Jonsson was pregnant with Monet's baby - her fourth child by four different fathers. Malcolm Monet was born in June 2008.

In 2007, Ulrika Jonsson's column in the News of the World finished after four years.

In January 2009, Ulrika Jonsson surprised many when she won Celebrity Big Brother.

In March 2009, Ulrika Jonsson told Piers Morgan that when he was in her early 20s she had "a few dates, a bit of a slap and tickle" with Prince Edward.

In 2010 Ulrika Jonsson returned to the Big Brother house - this time as one of the ultimate housemates. She reached the final.

In July 2011, Ulrika Jonsson appeared on ITV1's Tonight programme and revealed how a News Of The World editorial executive had warned her not to leave voicemails.

She also described her discovery of her being hacked:

"I was contacted by the Met Police on my mobile phone and they left me a number and said please call me back we have some very important evidence we want to show you. There were pin codes, numbers for my automatic front gate where I lived and the feeling that, according to these notes, that I was definitely being watched. Immediately my head started pounding. I felt ... I really felt very sick. I felt immediately like my stomach was turning. I felt really scared - somebody's been watching or certainly somebody’s been listening to my life."

In 2017, Ulrika Jonsson got to the final of Celebrity Masterchef.

In 2019, Ulrika Jonsson split up from her third husband Brian Monet.



Trivia
  • Ulrika has tattoos - three crowns on her ankle and a red devil on her bottom.
  • Ulrika wears a mouth guard to stop her grinding her teeth in her sleep.
  • In March 2007 Ulrika Jonsson appeared in a Channel Four documentary, Ulrika: Am I A Sex Addict, in which she made an emotional journey to the USA to explore the condition of being a sex addict.


Back to Top

Latest User CommentsAdd your comment
Add your comment
To ensure you are a real person and not a computer please enter the following characters shown below: