BBC EastEnders’ Ross Kemp’s love life including ‘rollercoaster’ marriage

Throughout his decade long soap career as EastEnders womaniser Grant Mitchell, actor Ross Kemp delighted audiences with a series of scandalous love triangles, secret affairs and shock romances on of the the country’s best loved soaps.

But away from our screens, Ross appears to have experienced his own romantic rollercoaster in real life too, which included everything from a failed marriage and messy divorce to Rebekah Brooks through to ‘going on a bender’ with his current wife, Aussie documentary presenter Renee O’Brien.

Thankfully however, despite having experienced his fair share of ups-and-downs, Ross has finally settled down in a happy home life, where he is a doting father to his four children.

Here, we take a closer look at the former soap star’s romantic life to date.

Rebekah Wade

In the late nineties, Ross first crossed paths with journalist Rebecca Wade while she was working for the News of the World, after the pair met while attending the same golf tournament.

Sensing a clear chemistry between them, the pair began dating and in 1996, the smitten duo announced their engagement – however just one year later their wedding plans were put on hold “due to work pressures” as the couple struggled to juggle the demands of soap stardom and a busy journalism career.

The break however, didn’t last too long, and by June 2002 the couple had made things official at a glitzy ceremony in Las Vegas.

After a promising start to their marriage, things sadly took a turn around a year later, when Rebekah was arrested on 3 November 2005, following an alleged assault on her husband. She was released without charge, and the police took no further action

Following the incident, the duo decided to separate in 2006, with their divorce being finalised three years later in 2009.

Nicole Coleman

Following his split from Rebekah, Ross went on to find love again with Nicole Coleman, who he initially met on the set of EastEnders.

The New Zealand born make-up artist dated Ross on and off for around four years, before the couple decided to bring their casual relationship to an end.

However, following the split it was revealed that Nicole had given birth to Ross’ first child, a baby boy named Oliver.

Speaking at the time, she told the press: "I have had a baby boy and Ross is the father. He will be involved.”

Renee O’Brien

After parting ways with Nicole, Ross later went on to find love with Australian-born Renee O’Brien, who he even went on to marry in 2012.

Together, the couple share three children, Leo, eight, and five-year-old twins, Ava and Kitty.

Although very happily married, the couple prefer to keep their life out of the spotlight with very little public information known about the private couple.

However, in one rare reflection on his relationship, Ross previously revealed Renee didn't know him from his soap days playing Grant, and thought he was just “some kind of grumpy old bald bloke”.

He told theMetroin 2019: "My wife didn't really know me from my soap days… So when we first got together, she just thought I was some kind of grumpy old bald bloke like in a bar – and she's probably right about that today, I'm still a grumpy old bald bloke in a bar.”

In an interview on the Plot Twist podcast last year, Ross also expanded further on why he thought his current marriage had lasted, as he admitted: "Renee's pretty practical, she's Australian, she's a lawyer, she's very straight.”

She'd never seen EastEnders. She had no idea I was Grant Mitchell or anything like that and she didn't really understand that I was doing documentaries," Ross said.

It was also Renee that he had to thank for help to calm down his “misbehaving” early days after he had returned from Afghanistan.

He added: "I'd just come back from Afghanistan when I first met her and I generally behaved quite badly the first four or five weeks.”

”I've changed now, obviously, but I used to go on a bit of a bender with some of the guys, and she sort of straightened me out But she knows what I do and you know, there's a great saying, particularly used by mates of mine in the armed forces, which is 'quick goodbyes and long hellos’."

Source: Read Full Article