Ulrika Jonsson has shared her heartache over her partner walking out shortly after their baby daughter Bo’s life-saving heart operation.
In her latest column with The Sun, the TV personality, 54, opened up on the agonising time she split with then-partner Markus Kempen, who went to live abroad just weeks after Bo, now 21, was born.
Speaking candidly in her article, Ulrika admitted her dread at Bo and Markus potentially meeting again as they are coincidently in the same country, revealing the union could ‘open a can of worms’.
That’s my girl: Ulrika Jonsson has shared her heartache over her partner walking out shortly after their baby daughter Bo’s life-saving heart operation (pictured with Bo in 2019)
Discussing the time before Markus left, Ulrika said there were already ‘fractures’ in their relationship even before their daughter was born and told how there were ‘red flags’ when they unsuccessfully tried living together previously.
Of him leaving, she told how he stood ‘outside the labour ward’ smoking cigarettes and ‘plotting his escape’ while she struggled to give birth.
She went on ‘After her first operation at six days old, I was allowed to take her home. On the way, in the car, he announced he’d accepted a job abroad and would be leaving imminently.
Heartache: In her latest column with The Sun , the TV personality, 54, opened up on the agonising time she split with then-partner Markus Kempen, who went to live abroad just weeks after Bo, now 21, was born (pictured with Markus while pregnant with Bo in 2000)
‘I sat in the back of the car, cradling my child – not ours. I knew she was chronically ill, might not survive future cardiac operations — and had just been abandoned by one half of her parents.’
Ulrika emotionally explained that the depression she soon developed was one of the ‘deepest and darkest’ times of her life, insisting that she fought ‘relentlessly’ for Markus ‘to have a place in her [Bo’s] life.’
The former Gladiators host went on consider Bo, who is working as a nanny in Greece, meeting her father for the first time in almost 21 years, with the Markus also in the same country currently.
Worries: Speaking candidly in her article, Ulrika admitted her dread at Bo and Markus potentially meeting again as they are coincidently in the same country, revealing the union could ‘open a can of worms’
Upsetting: ‘After her first operation at six days old, I was allowed to take her home. On the way, in the car, he announced he’d accepted a job abroad and would be leaving imminently’
Ulrika told of her ‘anxiety’ and ‘concern’ of them meeting without her present, fearing it could open a ‘can of worms’ for her daughter that she’s not ready’ to face.
She said: ‘If she wants to meet him, I have always supported her and always will. It has been a discombobulated feeling of hope and fear these past few weeks… If he can enrich or enhance her life, who am I to stand in their way? I have never tainted her mind about her biological father.’
Ulrika is also mother to son Cameron, 26, with John Turnbull, daughter Martha, 17, with Lance Gerrard-Wright and son Malcolm, with ex Brian Monet.
Abandoned: ‘I sat in the back of the car, cradling my child – not ours. I knew she was chronically ill, might not survive future cardiac operations — and had just been abandoned by one half of her parents’
Anxious: Ulrika told of her ‘anxiety’ and ‘concern’ of them meeting without her present, fearing it could open a ‘can of worms’ for her daughter that she’s not ready’ to face
Family: Ulrika is also mother to son Cameron, 26, with John Turnbull, daughter Martha, 17, with Lance Gerrard-Wright and son Malcolm, with ex Brian Monet
Ulrika has often been open about daughter Bo’s heart condition and in April this year revealed that Bo – who has a congenital heart defect – was rushed to hospital.
The star nervously had to await test results for her ill daughter after she was admitted to hospital overnight, with Ulrika given hourly reports on her progress at the time.
Bo has been in and out of hospital over the years as a result of her condition – she was born with double inlet left ventricle defect, a congenital defect that affects the valves and chambers of the heart.
Tough time: Ulrika has often been open about daughter Bo’s heart condition and in April this year revealed that Bo – who has a congenital heart defect – was rushed to hospital
As a baby, she had to undergo life-saving surgery on her heart – but Ulrika did not reveal what had caused Bo to be hospitalised.
The previous month Ulrika hailed Bo as a ‘warrior’ as she went to get a health check up.
The TV presenter shared a series of snaps to her Instagram Stories of Bo lying down at the doctor’s office as she received a liver scan.
The former Celebrity Big Brother star posted a photo of the pair sat together in the waiting room as she called Bo her ‘CHD Warrior’.
Brave: The star nervously had to await test results for her ill daughter after she was admitted to hospital overnight, with Ulrika given hourly reports on her progress at the time