Ulrika Jonsson
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Ulrika Jonsson (born 16 August 1967, in Sollentuna, near Stockholm) is a Swedish television presenter whose most famous work has been on British television.
Jonsson moved to England at the age of 12. After working as a secretary, her TV career began on TV-AM in 1989 where she worked as a weather forecaster. From September 12, 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 is a team captain on surreal quiz show Shooting Stars, where she is known by the name Ulrikakakaka.
Jonsson's private life has frequently been in the public eye. 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.
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, breaking 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.
Jonsson married Lance Gerrard-Wright on 9 August 2003. They have two children, Cameron son of ex-husband cameraman John Turnbull and Bo (she was named after her grandfather, Bo Jonsson), by former partner Markus Kempen.
References
- Honest, Jonsson's autobiography, ISBN 0330411748.sv:Ulrika Jonsson