Former Brookside star Jennifer Ellison felt relieved after finding out that her gangster boyfriend Tony Richardson had been cheating on her with John Terry’s ex-girlfriend.
Jennifer says Shalimar Wimble, a former lover of Chelsea legend Terry, was her “hero” for providing a reason to split with Richardson.
READ MORE: ‘My Danny Dyer punch on TV is famous – I was called bully but it was for good reason’
Want more showbiz? Daily Star has just the thing for you!
She told podcaster James English that she had been afraid of walking out on the former sunbed salesman, who had a dark history of gangland connections. He explained: “I was always terrified to leave, but then he got caught cheating on the front of the News of the World, so it was my get out of jail free card.
“It meant that I wasn’t going to get my face slashed like he always used to say and I could go without there being any repercussions.”
(Image: Richard Young/REX/Shutterstock)
She claimed Richardson also threatened to scar her face if she tried to leave him. “I was terrified for my family as well,” Jennifer added. “He was always saying ‘I’m going to do stuff to your mum,’ and stuff like that.”
Speaking about Shalimar Wimble, she said: “She’s my hero.” Jennifer explains that Richardson was stalked by paparazzi for days before being caught in a hotel tryst with the wannabe WAG.
And she’s grateful that the tabloid exposé allowed her to make a clean exit from his criminal circle.
(Image: Alpha-Piers Allardyce)
She said she had nothing to do with Richardson’s gang activity “but because I was on TV, so famous, I was a target”. She describes how, on one occasion, one of Richardson’s enemies hacked at her car with a machete as she tried to drive away.
Jennifer believes she has been left with PTSD after the traumatic seven years she spent with Richardson, but is grateful for her life now. She is now married to Rob Tickle, to whom she has been happily wed for 15 years, and is mum to their three sons Bobby, Harry, and Charlie.
Richardson, who also dated Steven Gerrard’s wife Alex Curran and Celebrity Big Brother star Chantelle Houghton, was jailed for eight years in 2011 for his part in a vicious gangland sword attack.
If you have been affected by issues of domestic violence or coercive control you can call Refuge’s 24-Hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline for free. The number is 0808 2000 247.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
