Corrie's Jenny off-screen - secret wedding, rarely-seen kids and co-star cousin
Sally Ann Matthews first joined Coronation Street as Jenny Bradley, daughter of the villainous Alan Bradley, all the way back in 1986 when she was just 16 years old. Since her soap entrance, he fictional on-screen life certainly hasn't be short of drama.
She left the ITV series after five years, briefly returning in 1993 before making her huge comeback in 2015 when her character began dating Kevin Webster. Viewers will remember Jenny was dealing with the loss of her son Tom, four, who had drowned in a paddling pool.
Jenny, now Jenny Connor after marrying factory boss Jonny Connor, ended up snatching Kevin's son Jack in order to keep him safe and nearly threw herself off a balcony, resulting in her being sectioned – this was just one of Jenny's many woes.
Jenny is getting ready to sell the Rovers Return Inn (ITV/REX/Shutterstock)After tying the knot, Jenny and Johnny bought the Rovers together in 2018 and managed to cope with marital upsets despite their infidelities. Johnny later died in the street's sinkhole disaster in 2021 after he tried to save her when she became trapped under the cobbles.
Despite all of this fictional upset, The Mirror dives into Jenny actress Sally Ann Matthews ' real-life to see if it's just as dramatic as her soap character's. From her secret real-world wedding to her surprise soap star cousin, her real life sure has its out-there moments too.
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Sally Ann's secret wedding ceremony
She married senior barrister Nicholas Rhodes in 1999 in a secret ceremony after the birth of her son James. "I never wanted to get married, ever," she told Kate Thornton on White Wine Question Time. Sally Ann surprised her family and friends with news of the couple's secret wedding on the same day as her birthday and her son's christening.
"I wanted to be with somebody and for me, the decision to have a child was a much bigger commitment. So we decided that we would start a family and we did. Then as soon as James was born, I kind of went: 'Oh I want the same name as everybody else'.
"So all right, 'I'll marry you now but I don't want a fuss and you're rubbish at remembering dates. So we'll get married on my birthday at James's christening'. So that's what we did. Every year on my birthday I forget it's also my wedding anniversary!
"So he always remembers but I always forget. We had the christening and then we were at the reception and the only people that knew were my two little bridesmaids."
Sally and Nick's rarely-seen children out the spotlight
Sally Ann and Nick live together in London and have two children, and while she often shares photos of her husband on her Instagram, her boys, Louis and James, are more rarely seen. However, earlier this month, the 52-year-old took to Instagram to share some rare photos of Louis.
Sally Ann keeps most of her private life off social media (S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
She recently gave fans a rare look at her son Louis' graduation (Sally Ann Matthews Instagram)He had graduated from university and the snaps showed her son in his cap and gown as well as posing alongside his proud mum. Captioning the post to her 105,000 followers, Sally Ann wrote: "Very proud mum klaxon. Congratulations @louis.rhodes Xxx". And the soap star's Corrie colleagues and her fans and followers were quick to comment.
Sally Ann's surprise soap star relative
Sally Ann discovered that fellow Corrie actress Amanda Barrie, who played Alma Baldwin between 1981 and 2001, was actually her cousin in a bizarre moment aired on TV. News came about during a one-off documentary called Coronation Street's DNA Secrets in September 2018.
Some of the show's most popular actors took DNA tests and worked with Ancestry.com to find out how far across the world their roots had spread. Sally Ann said the entire ordeal was extremely 'overwhelming' but admits it 'all makes sense now'.
At the time of the revelation, she told the Radio Times: "Waiting for my Corrie cousin to come around the corner was torture – I was praying it was someone I liked! The joy when I saw it was Amanda was overwhelming and I thought, 'well, of course it is, that all makes sense now'.
"We rarely had scenes together but, because of the way we worked back then, we were all in the rehearsal room together and knew everyone really well.
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"I think we share a naughty, slightly bonkers streak. And the fact the gift of a jug that Amanda gave me when I was 18 has been on every kitchen shelf I’ve ever had – and was one of my most treasured possessions even before I knew – clearly means something."
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