Ulrika Jonsson

Infobox_Person
name = Ulrika Jonsson


caption =
birth_date = birth date and age|1967|8|16|df=y
birth_place = Sollentuna, Sweden
occupation = Television presenter
known_for = TV-am, Gladiators, Big Breakfast, Shooting Stars
height =

Eva Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967) is a Swedish-born British television presenter.

Early life

The granddaughter of famous Swedish opera singer Folke Jonsson, Jonsson was born in Sollentuna, Sweden. Her parents divorced in 1975 when she was eight years old. After the divorce, her mother went to live in Holland and she lived with her father for the remainder of her childhood. Jonsson moved to England in 1979 at the age of 12 where she attended Burnham Grammar School in Buckinghamshire followed by St Aldate's Secretarial college in Oxford. She speaks fluent Swedish, English, French and German.

Career

After working as a secretary, Jonsson 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 Playtex Lingerie during this period. She was a team captain on the BBC TV quiz show "Shooting Stars", where Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer coined for her the name "Ulrikakakaka".

In 1990 she married TV cameraman Johnny Turnbull, but a few years later had an affair with "Gladiators" cameraman Phil Piotrowsky. She got back together with Turnbull, and they had a son, Cameron; however they divorced in 1995. She later had a relationship with James Crossley, better known as Gladiator "Hunter".

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. Jonsson later took out an injunction preventing Collymore from releasing a sex tape involving the two, apparently made while they were on holiday in Cyprus - the video was later destroyed by Collymore.

She presented "Dog Eat Dog" (reality game show) from 2001 - 2003, on BBC1.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 a reunion with Dell'Olio for the 2002 World Cup. There was some suspicion that the alleged relationship with Sven, and the subsequent publicity, may have been an attempt to revive her flagging career and boost sales of her soon to be released Autobiography.

In 2002, Jonsson presented TV makeover show Home On Their Own, a show where children made amends to their house (how they wanted the house to be) during the course of a weekend, while their parents went on holiday. Some of the home improvements included an Austin Powers room, doorbells for the children and a cinema living room.

After the media attention, she decided to return to Sweden. The Swedish television network TV3 offered her the role as hostess of the Miss Sweden beauty pageant. She declined the invitation.

In March 2003, Jonsson was a contestant on the BBC's "Comic Relief does Fame Academy".

In 2005, she appeared with four other celebrities on Channel 4's daytime show "Come Dine With Me"

On 20 January 2007 she joined 10 other celebrities to take part in the ITV reality TV show "Dancing On Ice," where she was partnered with Pavel Aubrecht. With previous experience at skating in her native Sweden, Jonsson and was expected to go far in the event but finished 9th after being beaten in the skate-off by Kay Burley.

Her latest project was the confessional TV show, "Ulrika: Am I A Sex Addict?", broadcast on Channel 4 on 20 March 2007. The show charted Jonsson's personal journey to uncover the truth about sex addiction.She has recently appeared on BBC1's "Would I Lie To You?" (2007).

There have recently been media reports that suggest she is a front-runner to replace Fiona Phillips, a GMTV presenter who is leaving the show. [cite web|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/celebritynews/2679746/Ulrika-Jonsson-touted-as-Fiona-Phillips-replacement-on-GMTV.html|title=Ulrika Jonsson touted as Fiona Phillips replacement on GMTV |date=2008-09-04|publisher=The Telegraph Online|accessdate=]

Autobiography and John Leslie scandal

Jonsson wrote in her autobiography ["Honest", Jonsson's autobiography, ISBN 0-330-41174-8] 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 regarding the case. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3112347.stm BBC NEWS | UK | Leslie sex charges dropped ] ]

"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 women. However, the eventual winner turned Gerrard-Wright down. Jonsson married Lance Gerrard-Wright on 16 August 2003 and split from him in October 2005. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/4368782.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Showbiz | Ulrika splits from her Mr Right ] ] 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

Jonsson has four children: a son, Cameron, born 1994, by John Turnbull; a daughter, Bo (after the child's grandfather, Bo Jonsson), born 2000, by Markus Kempen; and another daughter, Martha, born 2004, by Lance Gerrard-Wright. In October 2007, Jonsson confirmed that she is expecting her fourth child with her current husband Brian Monet, a US advertising executive. In a "Hello!" magazine interview (on 12 March 2008) she announced that her fourth child is to be a boy. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7069664.stm BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Jonsson expecting fourth child ] ] . Ulrika gave birth to fourth child, Malcolm Charles Trip Monet on June 7th 2008 and he weighed 10lbs. [ [http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hz41COrC8I1RfgZdF0epcUksMbrA] Dead link|date=August 2008]

References

External links

*imdb|0429715|Ulrika Jonsson

Persondata
NAME = Jonsson, Eva Ulrika
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Jonsson, Ulrika
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Television presenter, journalist
DATE OF BIRTH = 16 August 1967
PLACE OF BIRTH = Sollentuna, Sweden
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =