Kirsty Rowley: Jeremy Kyle’s First Marriage & His Deceit

For a man who loves to tell others how to live their lives and fix their relationships, Jeremy Kyle really should have applied his own advice to his relationship with first wife Kirsty Rowley!

So what is there to know about first wife Kirsty Rowley and what really happened during her marriage to Jeremy Kyle?

Their short-lived marriage was exposed by Mrs Rowley as one filled with lies and secrecy.

Who Is Kirsty Rowley?

The former secretary comes from Bristol. She is the ex-wife of former The Jeremy Kyle Show host -Jeremy Kyle.

Kirsty remarried some years after the ugly divorce with Kyle. She was last known to be living in Wiltshire and married to an airline pilot named George Rowley.

The pair were childhood friends and now have three children together. Mrs Rowley now lives a quiet and idyllic lifestyle that is completely different to her dramatic marriage to Jeremy…

How did Mrs Rowley meet Jeremy Kyle?

Mrs Rowley first met Kyle in the autumn of 1988, when he was 22 and working as a recruitment consultant in an agency in Bristol.

Kirsty was, at the time, 20 years old and a secretary at the firm.

He allegedly won his future bride over by doing an impression of Frank Spencer from the hit sitcom Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em.

Whatever floats your boat!

A Whirlwind Romance

At just 20 years of age, Kirsty admits she was:

“Naive and romantic… I felt special, I felt loved. I had come out of a four-and-a-half-year relationship and was feeling quite hurt and dejected. And my parents’ marriage was very stable. I always wanted to get married and have children.”

Within just two weeks of meeting, the pair were officially an item. Then, just two months later, Kyle popped the question to Rowley in a bathroom at a friends party. How romantic(!)

The former presenter of The Jeremy Kyle Show and Kirsty Rowley married in July 1989. The couple had a traditional white wedding at Kirsty’s family home in a village just outside of Bristol called Almondsbury.

While she has since said that her parents were concerned about the marriage, Kirsty Rowley said that:

“I was just so happy we were getting married. I didn’t even think about it. It was a very happy day.”

The Cracks Begin To Show

Their relationship began to breakdown even more quickly that it begun. The couple honeymooned in the Maldives and, during an argument, Mrs Rowley threw her wedding ring into the sea.

Clearly a dreadful start to married life, things never really improved for the couple. They began arguing frequently once they returned to the UK. The pair rented a flat in the Clifton area of Bristol.

Mrs Rowley gave up her job to become and housewife and fell pregnant within a month of their wedding.

Their daughter Harriet was born in 1990.

Kyle’s Deceit

In 2007, many years after their divorce. Kirsty Rowley opened up about the dark and difficult 15-month-marriage with the troubled TV host:

“I could forgive the gambling – not the continual deception.”

You could easily imagine that line appearing along the bottom of the TV screen at 11am on a Wednesday. But, this is actually just one of the accusations that have been brought up against the TV host by his ex-wife, including how he managed to run up £4,500 debt.

It soon came to light that the chat show host was a big time secret gambling addict, frequently visiting betting shops and using betting phone lines.  Kirsty speaks of a time where she went to withdraw money from their joint account to purchase maternity clothes, only to find there was nothing there.

Rowley was shocked and heartbroken:

“You needed both our signatures to take money out – I still don’t know to this day how he did it […] Then I found out he’d accessed my personal account without my consent.”

Kyle was very remorseful once confronted. However, he brought back up a lie which he had told his young wife just before they wed:

“It’s bad news, I’ve seen a doctor today. I haven’t got long to live.”

Clearly, there was no truth in this. Whilst Mr Kyle has since battled testicular cancer, he began suffering over 20 years after these manipulative allegations. It is highly unlikely that his alleged health difficulties at that time were legitimate, or at least not as severe as the TV host made it seem.

Rowley’s Heartbreak

Along with additional lies about being owed money by former bosses and even Kyle’s late grandmother, Kirsty finally called time on the marriage in November 1990. The pair split just 5 months after the birth of their daughter, with Mrs Rowley citing ‘unreasonable behaviour’.

Despite her frustrations and heartache, Mrs Rowley does say he is a caring and devoted father to their daughter Harriet, who is now 29 with a child of her own.

Mrs Rowley and Mr Kyle Divorce

“I’m good at giving advice, not so good at applying it to my own life”

Jeremy Kyle spoke these words to his show’s audience many, many years after the divorce. In his tell-all book I’m Only Being Honest, Kyle wrote gambling completely overwhelmed him.

Kirsty’s decision to end the marriage was certainly for the best:

“I crumpled into a heap and burst into tears. But I also felt this overwhelming sense of relief, even with the prospect of a five-month-old daughter to look after on my own, no job and debts to pay.”

The pair have both since remarried (Kyle has recently proposed to his third fiancé!).

While Kyle’s show is no longer on air, he hosted a few celebrities on The Jeremy Kyle Show over the years, including reality star Jeremy McConnell and Shameless actress Tina Malone.

Kirsty Rowley Now

Kirsty is now a happily-married mother of four and, of course, a grandmother as well!

“I learned what love is with George. He’s so normal, sensible. He taught me to trust again.”

So does Mrs Rowley hold any grudges over her ex-husband?

“I’m happy Jeremy has got over his addiction and that he’s managed to find stability – for Hattie’s sake, not for his […] I don’t like being malicious. I don’t hate him, I almost feel sorry for him […] I hope that by telling what really happened I can put it all behind me.”

There’s certainly still some bitterness there – let’s hope Kirsty Rowley has now been able to leave her demons in the past.