From a ‘cheating’ wife to marrying his family nanny, the love life of Jeremy Kyle is just as explosive as his one-time TV show.
Since carving out a career in presenting in the 1990s, Jeremy, 59, has morphed into a household name. Here, as he appears on Kate Garraway’s Life Stories tonight (April 1), we take a look at his relationship history, before and after fame.
Jeremy Kyle married first wife way before television career
Before fronting his own ITV show, Jeremy had already been married a couple of times.
He met his first wife, Kirsty Rowley, back in 1988 in Bristol while working as a recruitment consultant.
Reportedly, the pair hit it off after Kirsty was impressed by Jeremy’s impression of character Frank Spencer from the 1970s sitcom Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em.
The pair hit it off quickly and got engaged just two months later. In July 1989, they walked down the aisle in a traditional white wedding at Kirsty’s family home in Almondsbury.
However, things went sour real quick.
While on their honeymoon in the Maldives, the pair had an explosive row, which resulted in Kirsty throwing her wedding ring into the sea.
In June 1990, the pair welcomed a daughter, Harriet, now 34. Still, their marriage came crashing down the following year.
‘Gambling is the mistress that truly seduced me’
Years later, in 2007, Kirsty opened up about Jeremy’s gambling issues. She claimed her husband had stolen money from her bank account without her permission to help fund his gambling addiction.
Kirsty claimed his problems got so serious that he faked a life-threatening heart condition and ran up £4.5k debt on gambling and betting phone lines.
“The man I married wouldn’t have been out of place as a guest on his own show,” she said. “The programme is crass and embarrassing and for Jeremy to act like some kind of agony uncle is sheer hypocrisy.”
In his 2009 book, I’m Only Being Honest, Jeremy opened up about his problems with gambling. He said: “Gambling is the mistress that truly seduced me. I will never understand what a hit of heroin feels like, but gambling I get. Big time.
“Plenty of days I can remember taking money out of the cashpoint and going to the bookies and then losing and going again to the cashpoint — and back again and again… There was this pull and suddenly I was chasing money, trying to achieve something that has never been achieved: making a bookie poor.”
Jeremy then married former model Carla Germaine
More than 10 years after he split from his first wife, Jeremy married his second, former model Carla Germaine, in 2002.
The pair met in 1999 while he was presenting on the Birmingham-based radio station, 96.4 BRMB. At the time, she had won a competition to marry a stranger, which didn’t work out.
We have sadly grown apart.
During their marriage, Jeremy and Carla started a family, welcoming daughters Alice, now 21, Ava, now aged 19, and son Henry, now 16.
After 13 years, the couple announced in September 2015 that they were splitting up.
Jeremy said: “We have sadly grown apart over recent years and have been living apart since earlier this summer.”
On his show, he confessed that he and Carla rarely slept together, telling a guest: “I haven’t had sex for ages myself.”
Carla ‘cheated’ with England polo player James Carr
Things got a little messy when The Sun claimed that Carla had slept with England polo player James Carr while Jeremy was busy working in the US. The pair became friendly after she went to him for polo lessons. They were later said to have exchanged flirty chats and swapped numbers after a night out.
“One night Carla called after midnight asking if I wanted to meet her outside for a cigarette,” James claimed. “We had a smoke and a chat and she told me Jeremy was in America. Then suddenly, we began kissing.”
After taking her inside, James said Carla “took her high heels off so her shoes wouldn’t make a noise on our stone stairs. We didn’t want to wake my housemates. We started having sex — it was amazing.”
In February 2016, the court hearing for their divorce reportedly only lasted 20 seconds. Carla said Jeremy’s “unreasonable behaviour” was the reason for their marriage ending.
Jeremy remarried the family nanny
At the time of their divorce, Jeremy was said to have already been dating their family nanny, Vicky Burton, 40, for two months. Carla insisted she knew nothing about their relationship.
Vicky had previously joined the family on a holiday in Barbados in July 2013. In 2018, she quit as their nanny.
Jeremy and Vicky tied the knot in 2021 after their wedding was initially postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2020, they welcomed a son, Oliver, now four, before welcoming daughter in 2024, after previously suffering two miscarriages.
In 2023, the couple revealed they were expecting a baby but were given the sad news that the doctor couldn’t find the baby’s heartbeat at an early scan. Vicky miscarried when she was eight weeks pregnant.
“It was devastating. People say: ‘It’s so early, it’s just a bunch of cells.’ But as a woman, you can’t help but get attached to what’s going on in your body,” she told the Mirror.
Read more: Jeremy Kyle opens up on ‘terrifying’ cancer diagnosis: ‘I collapsed and thought I was dead’
Kate Garraway’s Life Stories: Jeremy Kyle is on ITV tonight, Tuesday April 1, at 9pm.
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