Ross Kemp's love life - 'rollercoaster' marriage and wife he 'quit benders' for

06 November 2023 , 17:30

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Ross Kemp has experienced rocky romances away from EastEnders (Image: BBC)

Famed for his role as womaniser Grant Mitchell in BBC's EastEnders, Ross Kemp was once caught up in love triangles, affair scandals and shock romances on the streets of Walford - but in real life, the 59-year-old actor has experienced his fair share of relationship woes too.

From divorcing journalist Rebekah Brooks to misbehaving and 'going on a bender' while with his current wife, Australian-born Renee O'Brien, the Extreme World documentary presenter has had highs and lows in his personal love life. Here, we take a look at his romance history and family away from the cameras.

Ross with second wife Renee O'Brien (GC Images)

With his two sons Oliver and Leo (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images for Warner Bros)

In the late nineties, Ross began dating journalist Rebekah Wade, who was working for News of the World at the time. The couple got engaged in 1996 and married in 2002, while Ross was playing Grant in EastEnders and Rebekah was the editor of The Sun. But just one year later, their relationship became rocky. Rebekah has since revealed their marriage was a 'rollercoaster', with her admitting to having an affair before they separated in 2006 and divorced in 2009.

After their split, Ross welcomed his first child, a son called Oliver, with his then-partner, make-up artist Nicole Coleman. He went on to have three children, Leo, eight, and five-year-old twins, Ava and Kitty, with his current wife, Renee. Ross and Renee married in 2012 and have chosen to keep their relationship largely private, with little known about his other half. Although, the dad-of-four has opened up briefly about his family in the past.

He 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 the Metro in 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."

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Ross with ex-wife Rebekah Wade (PA)

Ross with current wife Renee (FilmMagic)

In an interview on the Plot Twist podcast last year, he went into more detail and explained why his current marriage has lasted. "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.

He also revealed how he misbehaved in the early days of their relationship and Renee 'straightened him out'. "I'd just come back from Afghanistan when I first met her and I generally behaved quite badly the first four or five weeks," he admitted. "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'."

Now, Ross is settled and happy at home, fathering four children, and has said he takes after both of his own parents. The star was born in Barking, Essex, to a hairdresser mother and Met Police detective father. In an interview with the Mirror earlier this year, Ross said his parents' jobs have helped him in his presenting career, stepping inside the world's toughest prisons, wars and disaster zones. "I take after both my parents - I can grill you then I can ask where you're going on your holiday," he said.

Relating to his dad as a father, Ross added: "I didn't see him very often, I guess. He regrets it now. Detectives in those days had handguns and, when he'd been to the range, he would bring home the empty shells and put them by my brother's bed and by my bed and he'd be gone again before we woke up. We loved them. He told me he used to lean over our cots after a bad day and just look at us, and I do that now. I look at my own kids. It helps you make sense of why you're doing what you're doing."

Nia Dalton