Ulrika Jonsson

Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967, in Sollentuna, near Stockholm) is a Swedish-born television presenter whose most famous work has been on British television. Speaking English as her first language, she also speaks fluent Swedish.

Education

Jonsson moved to England at the age of 12 and attended Burnham Grammar School in Buckinghamshire.

Career

After working as a secretary, she began her TV career on TV-AM in 1989 where she worked as a weather forecaster. From 12 September 1989, she was also the weather forecaster for Swedish TV3, broadcasting from London. In 1992 she moved into mainstream presenting and played host to numerous shows including Gladiators, the Big Breakfast, The National Lottery - plus two major international broadcasts in 1998, the Eurovision Song Contest and Miss World. She also modelled for Berlei Lingerie during this period. She was a team captain on surreal quiz show Shooting Stars, where she is known by the name Ulrikakakaka.

Private life

Jonsson's colourful private life has frequently been in the public eye, overshadowing her fairly routine TV career. She was only 19 years old when she first gained fame in July 1987 when tabloids claimed she was the girlfriend of Prince Edward. Both parties denied this.

She spent many days on tabloid front pages in 1998, after it was revealed she was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her then boyfriend, footballer Stan Collymore.

In 2002 Jonsson had a short-lived relationship with England national football team manager Sven-Göran Eriksson. The event caused a tabloid frenzy as Eriksson had a long-term girlfriend - Nancy Dell'Olio - at the time. He later spurned Jonsson for Dell'Olio.

Autobiography and John Leslie scandal

Later that year Jonsson wrote in her autobiography that an unnamed television presenter had sexually assaulted her earlier in her television career. Matthew Wright named (apparently accidentally) John Leslie as the alleged perpetrator on his television show The Wright Stuff, which was apparently an open secret in the UK entertainment industry. Jonsson made no public comment on Leslie's naming and did not co-operate with police over the matter. Police investigated Leslie but never charged him with respect to the Jonsson case.

Mr. Right

In 2002, Jonsson presented the Reality Television show, Mr Right, where an eligible bachelor (Lance Gerrard-Wright) is faced with choosing a girlfriend from a group of beautiful, intelligent women. However the show ended in farce, when the eventual winner turned Lance down for being insincere. In an even more bizarre twist, Jonsson married Lance Gerrard-Wright on 9 August 2003. Jonsson split from Lance Gerrard-Wright in October 2005. ^*. She confirmed they were going through a divorce during the live taping of the 26 May 2006 edition of 8 Out of 10 Cats.

Children

Ulrika Jonsson has three children, a son, named Cameron with ex-husband cameraman John Turnbull and daughters Bo (she was named after her grandfather, Bo Jonsson), by former partner Markus Kempen and Martha with Gerrard-Wright.

References

Honest, Jonsson's autobiography, ISBN 0330411748.