She was was one of the biggest stars of the Noughties, becoming a lads’ mag favourite after soaring to fame in Brookside.
Yet behind closed doors, Jennifer Ellison was living a ‘double life’, dating a feared gangster with whom she was in an abusive relationship.
To the outside, it looked like she had it all, with the star enjoying high profile TV and theatre stints, yet Jennifer has since revealed the extent of the turmoil she faced.
In recent years, she has retreated from the public eye and now leads a quiet family life with her husband and three sons.
While she still enjoys the odd TV stint her days are filled by running a successful dance studio in Liverpool which has nurtured grassroots talent.
Now MailOnline has taken a deep dive into Jennifer’s troubled past, her personal battles and where she is now.
She was was one of the biggest stars of the Noughties, yet behind closed doors, Jennifer Ellison was living a ‘double life’, dating feared gangster Tony Richardson (pictured in 2004)
Jennifer soared to fame in the Nineties playing Emily Shadwick in Brookside (pictured with Jean Heywood, Kenneth Cope and Marji Campi)
Living a ‘double life’
Jennifer’s youth was anything but peaceful, after she became involved with a Liverpool gangster named Anthony Richardson who was later jailed for a vicious sword attack.
During her relationship with Tony, Jennifer feared for her life on more than one occasion, including one time when she was forced off the road by a rival gang.
Jennifer, 42, explained how she was living ‘parallel lives’ during her early fame as a star of Liverpool-based Brookside, while also dating Tony, who was linked to criminal underworld figures.
Years after being beaten and abused by her ex-boyfriend, Jennifer revealed she has finally come to terms with her violent past and is grateful that she managed to escape a life which saw her home shot at.
The Liverpool native now typically stays out of the spotlight, but did make a TV appearance in 2022 where she appeared on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares wins.
Jennifer described it as the ‘best therapy ever’ as she came to terms with her past relationship during her experience on the programme.
The actress met Tony when she was 16, they got together a year later and within 12 months they were engaged.
Back in the late 90’s at the height of her fame – Jennifer was dragged into the criminal underworld in her hometown of Liverpool.
She found herself witness to violent incidents from fire-bombings to drive-by shootings and confessed that her cheating fiancé battered her during their six-year relationship.
Tony was later jailed for eight years in 2011 after being convicted of a sword attack in Liverpool.
During an episode of the Channel 4 hit – Jennifer broke down to Commando Jason ‘Foxy’ Fox admitting her life with Tony left her feeling worthless.
The actress met Tony when she was 16, they got together a year later and within 12 months they were engaged (pictured in 2005)
Reflecting on her traumatic past Jennifer told The Mirror: ‘It was a volatile relationship and he was connected with this other world, this gangland world.
‘For years and years I thought that life was normal and bad things like that happened to everyone because it happened in the world I was in. I was having nails in my letter box, going into hiding and fearing for your life walking down the street. That’s not normal.
‘I look back and think how it was so traumatic. It was so horrific what I was going through. I was such a young girl, I was a baby.
‘I feel like opening up in the mirror room about that has put that part of my life to bed. It was like the best therapy session ever.’
She described the experience as ‘crazy’ and it ‘takes over your whole body.’
She admitted she was left ‘in awe’ as she battled through the emotions and changed for the better while crediting the show for building her back up again.
The relationship ended when Jennifer discovered Tony was cheating on her with John Terry’s ex-girlfriend Shalimar Wimble, which she describes as her ‘get out of jail free card’.
She previously claimed she felt relieved after finding out that her gangster boyfriend had been cheating on her with John Terry’s ex-girlfriend. Jennifer says Shalimar was her ‘hero’ for providing a reason to split with Tony.
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.
Back in the late 90’s at the height of her fame – Jennifer was dragged into the criminal underworld in her hometown of Liverpool (pictured in 2004)
She 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.’
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, she said: ‘She’s my hero.’ Jennifer explains that Tony was stalked by paparazzi for days before being caught in a hotel tryst with her.
And she’s grateful that the tabloid exposé allowed her to make a clean exit from his criminal circle.
She said she had nothing to do with Tony’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 Tony, but is grateful for her life now.
While Jennifer had settled down with Rob, Tony also dated Steven Gerrard’s wife Alex Curran and Celebrity Big Brother star Chantelle Houghton.
Tony was jailed after he was caught on camera battering Lee Siner with a car crook lock after chasing him up the stairs and throwing a chair at him.
The two other attackers then hacked at the victim cutting his upper arms and legs in a fearsome revenge attack following a petty dispute.
Mr Siner had been dining in the Mediterranean restaurant Kimos, near Toxteth, when he was ambushed by three masked men armed with a samurai sword and bat.
Jennifer explained how she was living ‘parallel lives’ during her early fame as a star of Liverpool-based Brookside (pictured on the show with Philip Olivier), while also dating Tony
Jennifer revealed Tony was abusive and used to beat her in an interview in 2008.
Liverpool Crown Court was told victim Mr Siner refused to help Merseyside Police with their enquiries, such is the fearsome reputation of Tony and his fugitive accomplice James ‘Pancake’ Taylor.
It is thought the revenge attack was carried out after Mr Siner ‘knocked out’ Pancake in a prison visiting room brawl at Garth prison in Preston.
The whereabouts of Pancake, who is well known in the Liverpool underworld for random outbursts of terrifying violence, are unknown.
Detective Chief Inspector Chris Green from Merseyside Police said: ‘The sentence handed down to Anthony Richardson reflects the severity and vicious nature of this assault.
‘Despite this, the investigation into this matter is still ongoing and we are not complacent. I’m anxious to speak to anyone who has information about James Taylor.’
Nigel Power QC, defending, said his client only learned of the plot to attack Mr Siner while he was driving Pancake and another man to the restaurant.
After hearing the police wanted to question him over the kebab shop attack in August, Tony handed himself in and admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm.
Despite having previous convictions for public order and driving offences, Judge Nigel Gilmour QC said: ‘There is nothing in your record to suggest you would do something so criminal and stupid. You are now paying the price for that stupidity.’
Tony was jailed after he was caught on camera battering Lee Siner (pictured) with a car crook lock after chasing him up the stairs and throwing a chair at him
Police mugshot of Anthony Richardson
Liverpool Crown Court was told victim Mr Siner refused to help Merseyside Police with their enquiries, such is the fearsome reputation of Tony and his fugitive accomplice James ‘Pancake’ Taylor (pictured in a police mugshot)
Public body image struggles
As well as her well-documented relationship with Tony, Jennifer also spoke publicly about her ongoing battle with her body image and weight.
Jennifer revealed that appearing on the gruelling endurance show helped her come terms with the fact she needed to regain her body confidence.
She said her ‘horrific’ experience on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins was the catalyst for her three stone weight loss.
She was spurred on after losing a stone during her time in the desert, admitting the time cured her fear of the gym.
Speaking to Closer magazine she explained: ‘SAS was hell times a million. It was like giving birth! It’s the most horrific experience as you’re going through it, but then the reward at the end was life-changing.’
She continued: ‘I’ve since lost a stone doing it, I’ve lost more since then as it gave me a kick up the backside, because the gym is daunting to me. I was scared of the gym, but then after SAS I said if I can do that, I can do anything.
‘I’m down to 10/5 stone now and I’m in the gym five times a week – doing a mixture of cardio and weights. I feel great.’
The mother of three previously said her addiction to sugar-ridden snacks and fizzy drinks was so severe she suffered debilitating withdrawal symptoms after going cold turkey.
Medics had to be called in when she took part in ITV show Sugar Free Farm in 2016, which saw her ditch sugar for two weeks while living and working in the country.
As well as her well-documented relationship with Tony, Jennifer also spoke publicly about her ongoing battle with her body image and weight
She said her ‘horrific’ experience on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins was the catalyst for her three stone weight loss
The former Brookside star’s bad diet and habit of drinking up to eight cans of Coke a day had seen her balloon to 14 stone.
She reached breaking point as she toiled on the farm alongside singer Jane McDonald, comedian Rory McGrath, quiz mastermind Mark Labbett, actress Tupele Dorgu and TOWIE’s James ‘Arg’ Argent.
Speaking about her experience, she said: ‘I got hit the hardest with withdrawal, as my sugar intake was the highest.
‘I was picking carrots with Jane on the farm and every time I bent down I felt like someone was standing on my eyeballs. I felt physically sick.
‘I had the worst headache I’ve ever, ever felt. If you’ve ever detoxed, take that feeling and times it by 10. We were detoxing from processed food, sugar, alcohol, everything.
‘It was literally like someone had put my head in a vice and was just twisting it and twisting it. It felt like my eyes might pop out of my head. I went straight to bed when I got in and when I woke up the next morning I still felt a bit groggy, but I started to turn a corner and I felt a bit better.’
She revealed her diet deteriorated after she opened her dance studio following the birth of her third son in 2014 – but lost one-and-a-half stone thanks to the experiment.
She said: ‘I really neglected myself and took no time for myself at all, and I didn’t look after my fitness or my health.
‘I consumed a lot of sugar with sweets and chocolate. It just kept me going through the day when I’m really busy.
Jennifer revealed that appearing on the gruelling endurance show helped her come terms with the fact she needed to regain her body confidence
‘But the worst thing for me was cans of Coke. I’d have six to eight cans of Coke a day, which is terrible. You don’t think about sugar in a drink. You think it’s not that bad because it’s liquid, but it’s actually worse.
‘It was just really shocking and quite disturbing when you’re confronted with it and the consequences of it and what could happen.
‘The thing was, I wasn’t even really eating a lot. I was just snacking on rubbish. I wasn’t actually sitting down and eating pizza or a big roast. It was just wasted calories.
‘I’d wake up in the morning and not have time to have breakfast so I’d have a can of Coke to give me energy.
‘Then I’d skip lunch and have another can of Coke and grab some jelly sweets or a Mars bar. People can say they are a drug addict or an alcoholic but if you say you’re addicted to sugar you get laughed at. But it’s actually causing a greater problem for people and the NHS.
‘So Sugar Free Farm came along, and I just thought to myself I’ve actually got a really bad problem. My family and husband had been telling me for years and I suddenly thought that I really needed to do this for me.
‘My sugar was the highest intake out of everyone taking part, which was really disturbing. It made me feel quite sick actually.’
Turning their backs on the modern food industry, the celebrities lived and worked on Laverstoke Park Farm, in Hampshire, in return for their share of healthy, wholesome food – all under the watchful eye of nutritionist Angelique Panagos.
Over the course of the two weeks their roles were split and rotated with four of them working on the farm during the day and two tasked with preparing and cooking the sugar-free meals.
The workers were tasked with jobs including milking water buffalo, rounding up pigs and poultry and fertilising the crops, the dramas soon begin.
Jennifer said her biggest fear on entering the show was not cheating and giving in to temptation to eat sugar.
The mother of three previously said her addiction to sugar-ridden snacks and fizzy drinks was so severe she suffered debilitating withdrawal symptoms after going cold turkey (pictured i 2016 before appearing on Sugar Free Farm)
‘Obviously I went into the programme really wanting to do it properly but when you’re stripped away of everything and living on a farm it’s going to be really hard. Obviously being away from all my boys worried me.
‘It was strange and scary. I burst into tears the first night at the dinner table because it was really daunting. Plus, I’d never had a day without sugar before. I was terrified of what was going to happen to my body and the withdrawal symptoms I’d have.
‘Being a mum to three boys, you worry about your health. Diabetes really worries me and of course my weight. Those two things go hand in hand.
‘I was really concerned about my weight and although I hadn’t really had any health issues I knew that was the next step, especially with the amount of sugar I was consuming. But the weight thing was the worst. I was 14 stone when I started filming which is ridiculous for me.’
Jennifer also learned how to cook sugar free alternatives so she could continue on a path back to health beyond her stint on the farm.
‘I was really surprised. The pizza was lovely actually, and the chicken nuggets and chips. We made sweet potato fries and proper breaded chicken nuggets with organic chicken. And we made a tomato sauce with tomatoes and onions; it was absolutely gorgeous.
‘It was great to know you can make healthy versions of things which are still tasty, especially being a mum.’
And she says it’s transformed the lives of her and her family for the better.
In 2023, Jennifer revealed she’s stopped dieting and is finally ‘confident’ with her body after her weight had gone up and down ‘so much’ over the years but she is ‘happy’ with her current weight of just over 10 stone.
She told Closer Magazine: ‘I’m not the smallest I’ve ever been, but am at a happy weight where I feel OK getting into a bikini or a costume in the swimming pool. I’m in a happy and confident place.
‘I am about 10¾st at the moment. I don’t feel I’m in that rat race anymore of having to look amazing. I’ve stopped trying to diet.
‘When you do faddy diets they don’t work, so I’ve given up. My weight has gone up and down so much over the years so I just try to eat healthily now.’
Jennifer told the publication about losing her confidence after gradually gaining weight and going up to a size 18.
She recalled: ‘My agent would phone me up, and the thought of going for an audition… I would refuse. I’d say ‘I can’t do it’. I had lost my confidence. I had literally given up on myself’.
Last year, Jennifer revealed she had ‘given up’ on herself before doing Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins last year.
She said: ‘I’d given up on myself. I never looked in the mirror.
‘I didn’t think I could ever go back on stage because no one would want me. I had gone from being this girl known for acting and men’s mags to becoming this mum and teacher.’
Early fame
Jennifer appeared in the soap opposite her on-screen husband Philip Olivier, who played Timothy ‘Tinhead’ O’Leary (pictured)
Jennifer soared to fame on Brookside in 1998, on which she played Emily Shadwick.
During this stint she became a lads’ mag favourite, as she would frequently pose in scanty ensembles and stunned the red carpet with her figure.
She was propelled to fame as a teenager and became a household name in the UK in the late nineties and early noughties.
Jennifer appeared in the soap opposite her on-screen husband Philip Olivier, who played Timothy ‘Tinhead’ O’Leary.
After tearaway teen Emily was killed off in the soap after five years in 2003 following a series of explosive story lines, Jennifer was given a Hollywood role.
She jetted off to LA to film Phantom of the Opera, starring Gerard Butler and recorded her debut album and became the youngest ever Roxy in Chicago on the West End.
Jennifer also had a short lived singing career, releasing Baby I Don’t Care in 2003, which peaked at number six in the UK.
But while her career was going from strength to strength, Jennifer was experiencing a deeply traumatic time in her personal life.
Speaking on the Anything Goes with James English podcast, she said: ‘I had nothing to do with [any criminal activity]. But because I was on TV, so famous, I was a target.’
The actress said she was living her best life in Hollywood, or so it seemed, when the news of her house being shot at with an AK-47 flooded the front pages.
She said some people wanted to cut ties with her, but that Gerard Butler fought for her.
Jennifer told James English she believes she has PTSD from what she has been through, but is grateful for her life now.
She jetted off to LA to film Phantom of the Opera, starring Gerard Butler and recorded her debut album and became the youngest ever Roxy in Chicago on the West End (Emmy Rossum (R), Jennifer Ellison and Gerard Butler in 2004)
Family life now
The former soap star has now been married to her husband Rob Tickle for 15 years after tying the knot in October 2009. The couple share three sons.
Jennifer and boxer Rob Tickle began dating in May 2008, and were engaged in October of that year while on holiday in the Maldives.
The following year they were married, with the ceremony being performed in Mauritius on 10 October 2009. Ellison has three children.
The couple, who live in Liverpool, share sons Bobby, 16, Harry, 12, and Charlie, 11. Jennifer also has two stepdaughters, Chloe and Sophie.
Jennifer shared her sons’ candid responses to her on-screen fight with Pete Wicks on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Under orders from the show’s instructors, TOWIE star Pete, 37, went up against the Jennifer while wearing helmets and landed a blow to her head, which he later said he regretted.
After the exchange, the pair were left in tears and Pete swiftly apologised.
Reflecting on the moment, Jennifer said that while she wasn’t bothered by it, her sons struggled to watch the scene and wanted to go after Pete.
She said: ‘He [Pete] did [get emotional], he was so upset, and gutted but it’s what we had to do, so, I wasn’t bothered at all. When the kids watched they were like, ‘right where is he? I’m going to get him’,’ she added, laughing.
Jennifer and boxer Rob Tickle began dating in May 2008, and were engaged in October of that year while on holiday in the Maldives
The couple, who live in Liverpool, share sons Bobby, 16, Harry, 12, and Charlie, 11. Jennifer also has two stepdaughters, Chloe and Sophie
Gushing over her former co-star, Jennifer had nothing but praise for Pete, who has since returned to the new series. ‘He is literally one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life, if you’re going to get punched by someone, make it Pete Wicks.’
After stepping away from TV work, Jennifer opened her dance school, Jelli Studios.
The studios has launched the careers of BGT success stories Boogie Storm and The Greatest Dancer.
The website claims ‘Jelli Studios provides elite intense Dance and Musical Theatre training for those wanting a long successful career in the Professional Industry of Performing Arts.’
Earlier this year, Jennifer revealed that her son has been rushed to A&E after an accident, just weeks after she also ended up in the emergency room.
She took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to reveal she was back at the hospital again.
Sharing a photo of her son being treated by a nurse, she revealed the accident had happened the night before she was due to go to London for work.
She lamented that this latest A&E trip meant she’d had more hospital visits in 2025 alone than in the last five years.
Captioning a snap from the waiting room, Jennifer wrote: ‘Just what you need a day before you travel to London. Been here more times this year than in the last five years.’
After stepping away from TV work, Jennifer opened her dance school, Jelli Studios
The studios has launched the careers of BGT success stories Boogie Storm and The Greatest Dancer
She then posted a photo of her son having his arm wrapped up into a cast, explaining he had been hurt ‘the night before’ she was going to be ‘working away for five days’.
It came less than a month after Jennifer had to be rushed to A&E herself with a mystery illness.
Last month, she took to her Instagram Story to share a photo of a drip in her arm at the hospital.
She penned in the caption: ‘The gift that keeps on giving,’ followed by a sad face and added: ‘Need to feel well again’, but didn’t further explain what had happened.
