Any of Ellie Penfold’s 14,000 Instagram followers could be forgiven for wondering where her husband has been for the past seven months.
Once a permanent fixture on her social media, former footballer and BBC presenter Jermaine Jenas hasn’t appeared on it seen since August, when she shared snaps of a family sunshine holiday.
It is, of course, no coincidence that just three weeks after she did so, the star – who was widely regarded as the future of the Beeb and indeed Gary Lineker’s Match Of The Day successor – was sacked after being accused of sending unsolicited text messages to younger female colleagues.
At the time Jermaine, 42, rather arrogantly insisted that he and Ellie – his wife of 13 years – would save their marriage despite his misdemeanours. However, those who know Ellie – the mother of three of his children, Geneva, 11, Olivia, eight, and two-year-old Jacob (he has a daughter, Sancha, 16, from a previous relationship) – say she had been ‘struggling with finding a way to move on’ from the sexting scandal.
And on Tuesday evening she decided to go public with her decision to split from him.
Taking to Instagram, she wrote: ‘I never imagined I would have to share something so personal with the public, but given the situation, I feel it’s necessary.
Jermaine Jenas and Ellie had been together for 16 years and had four children together
Jenas presenting with Alex Jones on BBC’s The One Show
‘After 16 years together and 4 wonderful children, Jermaine and I have decided to part ways. We will remain friends and continue to co-parent.’
It was a brave move by Ellie who, until she dropped her social media bombshell, had always left Jermaine’s publicist to talk on her behalf. Even when she launched her teens’ skincare brand Preppy at the end of last year, it was his PR who organised promotional interviews.
But now, say friends, she is determined to go it alone – and not before time. Because, it can be revealed, the couple had endured difficult times in recent years – and Jermaine’s unsolicited texts to junior colleagues were the last straw.
‘There had been problems for a while,’ said a source close to the situation. ‘How was Ellie to know this wouldn’t happen again? It was too hard for her to live with.’
Despite Ellie accepting that her marriage wasn’t as perfect as her social media perhaps appeared to claim, nothing could have prepared her for his sacking last summer. She was ‘absolutely furious’ at her husband’s behaviour for a number of reasons – but it was how it hurt their children that truly devastated her.
‘It really affected the kids,’ said a source close to the family. ‘The girls had to go to school knowing that their father’s name was all over the internet and social media. Can you imagine how awful that must have been?
‘Ellie tried to protect them and there was a three-line whip to stop any further stories coming out, by hook or by crook, and make sure that they weren’t affected any more. The thing is, Ellie could only blame Jermaine. It was the most horrific thing for him to do, and it all blew up in his face. It was devastating.
‘She had been his long-standing and loyal wife, always there at home to support him and bring up his children.’
Life at the Jenases’ £7 million, six-bedroom, mock Tudor mansion in Hertfordshire had been horribly strained ever since.
It was at the end of August last year that Jermaine was sacked from his £190,000-a-year role at the BBC. Earlier that month, a female member of The One Show staff complained that he had sent her explicit text messages and images she didn’t want.
Within hours of the Corporation announcing he was no longer part of their presenting line-up, other women came forward to share their experiences.
As one BBC employee put it: ‘It turns out, his female colleagues weren’t quite as fond of him as he was of them.’ Initially, Jermaine doubled down and insisted that he had done nothing wrong. He claimed he had been ‘wronged’ and he vowed to clear his name.
Jermaine later told how he was fired during an excruciating video call while he was on a family holiday in Marbella, confessing it was ‘grim’, having to ‘sit there and listen’ as four bosses on the Zoom call read out his inappropriate text messages.
He admitted he lied to his wife after first being informed of the allegations, to try to ‘find a way out of this mess’.
He then apologised for his behaviour and admitted sending the texts, although he still insisted they were exchanged between consenting adults.
Finally, he accepted he was in the wrong and tried hard to make it up to former model Ellie, even saying sorry to her in public – but to no avail.
Who can blame her? Friends say that she had been looking forward to a ‘wonderful and happy future’ with Jermaine after he had retired from football and seemed set for a lucrative future in television which could have kept them in the comfortable lifestyle they had become used to when he was a player for England and Tottenham Hotspur.
‘What also infuriated Ellie is that Jermaine sacrificed his family’s livelihood by messing around at the BBC,’ said a source close to the couple.
‘It was his job, yet he just couldn’t help himself, and that had huge, huge ramifications for his family. They have had to live through this with him and it has been hard.
‘He basically lost it all just for the sake of some text messages which these women didn’t want; it is hurtful and devastating.’
Ellie is expected to remain in the family home. While she has made no comment about any forthcoming divorce, it is likely to be expensive for Jermaine.
As one source puts it: ‘Not many footballers’ wives are strong enough to dump their philandering husbands, but Ellie has been. Now she has a whole new future ahead of her.’
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