Gladiators’ Jet is MARRIED! 90s pin-up, 53, reveals she has secretly tied the knot with partner Zoe in front of just six people
Gladiators icon Jet has revealed she married her partner Zoe in a secret ceremony last week, just a year after they met and fell in love in a supermarket.
Jet, 53, told Closer magazine that the couple had an intimate ceremony in front of just six friends and family.
The TV star, real name Diane Youdale, told the publication: ‘We’re married! We kept it very very quiet. Literally nine people on the planet knew. We wanted to keep it really tiny.’
The 90s pin-up said that she stuck to her own style rules, saying: ‘It was casual, I didn’t wear a dress. I wore a nice boho-type top, trousers and a beautiful pair of sandals.
‘Zoe wore her chinos, brogues and a nice shirt with a waistcoat. She looked ever so smart, I cried a lot.’
Gladiators’ Jet is MARRIED! 90s pin-up Diane Youdale, 53, reveals she has secretly tied the knot with partner Zoe in front of six people (stock image)
Throwback: The TV icon, whose real name is Diane Youdale, 53, recalled being approached by a ‘gorgeous lady’ last year in a supermarket during an appearance on the Chillin’ with Ice podcast (pictured as Jet in 1992)
The couple kept things low-key by enjoying a mini-moon in Northumbria and now they plan on travelling around the country to celebrate their happy news with their friends, including some of Jet’s former Gladiator co-stars.
The star only came out publicly recently by announcing she was engaged to Zoe on a podcast presented by the former American Gladiator ‘Ice’ earlier this month.
Ice, real name Lori Fetrick, who is herself gay, asked the former pin-up ‘if your country knew this’, referencing her sexuality and new relationship.
Appearing on the Chillin With Ice podcast, Jet replied: ‘Probably not and I don’t care, we are what we are, it doesn’t matter, I don’t give a damn… I’m safe and I’m loved and there’s no threat to me anymore, and that’s what means the world to me.’
She has said she met Zoe, 48, in a supermarket – with Zoe introducing herself while doing her grocery shopping.
Zoe said to Jet: ‘I think you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen’ causing Jet’s knees to nearly give way from under her.
They then went on a date to a gastropub and Jet has said she was bowled over by Zoe’s sense of humour.
She even said that Zoe has said she fancied Jet when she was on Gladiators back in the day.
While Jet has had relationships with men in the past, she said that she’s ‘never felt tied to any one sexual identity’.
She said: ‘I’ve always been very relaxed about my sexuality whether I was aware of it or not.’
Jet was previously in a relationship with former Gladiators co-star Hunter, real name James Crossley, but they split after a year together when she quit the show.
READ MORE: First Gladiator champion who triumphed in 1992 TV contest wins payout from sports club that sacked him during Covid because it was down to its last 73p
Weininger Irwin (pictured in 1992) was sacked without warning over email when the sports club he managed with his wife ran out of money during the pandemic
After their split, Hunter had a high-profile romance with Gladiators host Ulrika Jonsson, and Diane admitted that she felt like the ‘cougar’ when she was with him due to their two-year age gap.
She added: ‘I think he was 19 and I was like 21. I mean I’m being a cougar at 21 but we remained good friends ever since and it was after I’d left the show that I think he got together with Ulrika.’
Despite their split, Jet and Hunter have stayed on friendly terms, as she shared a sweet social media message following his appearance on The Circle in 2021.
After she and Hunter split, Diane married TV executive George Mayhew.
Posters of Jet posing in Lycra were plastered on bedroom walls across the country following her stint on Gladiators from 1992 to 1996.
But despite becoming an overnight sex symbol thanks to her stunning athletic figure, she struggled when it came to dating men.
Speaking on Chillin With Ice earlier this month Diane admitted that she had been ‘put off relationships for life’ after moving to the North of England for a partner, only for it to end badly.
Asked if she was in a happy place now, she said: ‘I am, I am, it’s taken me a long time to get there, I won’t lie.
‘I could cry but I won’t. I sadly left the south of England and moved to the North west of England for something that wasn’t what it seemed, and ended up really hurt, badly.’
The star said there were ‘lots of police’ involved in what was ‘domestic abuse.’
She added: ‘It was horrendous, really horrendous, and it put me off relationships and everything for life.’
But Jet later beamed as she gushed about Zoe before introducing her to the camera.
The former Athlete said: ‘Just over a year ago, a gorgeous lady approached me in my local supermarket. And over a year later, we’re going to get married’.
Lori, 60, who herself came out in 2008 said: ‘Today’s day and age, people are so accepting of everyone and it doesn’t matter who you are because it’s a matter of who you are as a person.’
She added: ‘It shouldn’t matter who your partner is’.
Now working as a psychotherapist, Diane spends her time between North East England and Surrey.
Diane started out with a career in gymnastics and dance, before rising to stardom on Gladiators, but was later forced to take up presenting and acting after injuring her neck during the show’s live event at Wembley Arena in 1996.
She revealed in 2021 how the 90s show helped her overcome the bulimia she suffered from ages 14 to 19.
Speaking on the Celebrity Catch Up: Life After That Thing I Did podcast, the TV personality detailed how training as a gymnast as a teen meant she wanted to remain ‘boy-looking’ yet becoming Jet meant being ‘very glamorous’.
Past love: Jet had previously been in a relationship with former Gladiators co-star Hunter, real name James Crossley, but they split when Jet quit the show after only dating for a year (pictured together during the show left, while right, decades later)
Lovebirds: Diane, who appeared on the ITV show between 1992 and 1996, beamed as she gushed about Zoe before introducing her to the camera earlier this month
Pride: With a huge smile on her face she said: ‘We are what we are. It doesn’t matter. And I don’t give a damn
Wow! At the time, she spoke ahead of her own 50th birthday, saying: ‘Feeling too old or not fit enough is just a mind-set – anyone is able to exercise, regardless of age’
She said: ‘Gladiators helped me go, well actually having a bit more booby and botty, and it not wobbling around too much – it’s alright to have lumps and bumps in all the right places. I’m being Jet because of who I am, because of how God made me’.
Gladiators regularly pulled in audiences of up to 14 million, with almost 100,000 people applying to battle against the likes of Jet, Wolf, Panther and Cobra.
Diane was forced to quit the show after four years in 1996 after suffering a neck injury, after which she trained as a fitness instructor as well as a psychotherapist, using her skill as a regular studio guest on Big Brother’s Bit On The Side.
In her 2021 chat, she reflected on her life as a gymnast: ‘I remember looking in the mirror and really being very tortuous about my own body image. As a gymnast I’d grown to the height of a senior by 13…
‘I started developing and I wanted to remain boy-looking as long as possible because my career as a gymnast was at risk. But for me at the time, turning into a woman with boobies and bottom…
‘Somebody behind me on a tumble run one day said, ‘Oh Di, you’re getting a beautiful figure,’ – I could have died. So from 14 to 19 I really wrestled with becoming what visibly in the end, as Jet, was very feminised and very glamorous’.
Wow! Gladiators legend Diane Youdale, known for her stage name Jet, revealed the 90s show helped her overcome the bulimia she suffered from ages 14 to 19
Discussing how she overhauled life, she said: ‘Gladiators really helped me go, well actually having a bit more booby and botty, and it not wobbling around too much – it’s alright to have lumps and bumps in all the right places….
‘I’m being Jet because of who I am, because of how God made me. I’m very much [of the opinion] you can’t change what’s outside of you, but you can very much start to change how you look at the world from inside. I love the body I’ve been given.’
It comes after A Gladiators contestant has revealed that the cast taking part in the iconic show reboot have implemented a self-imposed sex ban and ‘no booze’ policy ahead of the upcoming reboot.
According to a member of the fearsome group, who were announced by BBC1 last month, the amount of ‘flirty banter’ and ‘sexual tension’ backstage is ‘ridiculous’.
Consequently, they have ‘universally agreed’ to keep things ‘PG’.
Speaking to The Sun, one contestant said: ‘They’re professional sports people, many from Olympic or league level sports, so they’re treating the show like any other competition, which means no sex and no booze.
‘Many grew up watching the original so being among the new breed of Gladiators is a big deal.
Fierce: A Gladiators contestant has revealed that the cast taking part in the iconic show reboot have implemented a self-imposed sex ban and ‘no booze’ policy ahead of the upcoming reboot.
OGs: The iconic show, which originally aired on ITV from 1992 to 2000, is making an epic return to screens after 23 years on the BBC (The original Gladiators in 1994)
‘But they’re all fit, gorgeous and spending a lot of time wearing tiny Lycra costumes. The amount of flirty banter and sexual tension backstage is ridiculous.’
Contestants revealed include trained rugby players, accomplished swimmers, sprinters and powerlifters – but Mark Clattenburg will bring years of experience as a Premier League referee to the table when the series gets underway.
Clattenburg oversaw several big games – including the 2012 Men’s Olympics final, the 2012 Carabao Cup final, the 2014 European Super Cup as well as the 2016 FA Cup, Champions League and European Championships Finals.
He will be joined by Sonia Mkoloma, a former English international netball player who competed at five Netball World Cups and three Commonwealth Games – making an incredible 123 international test appearances.
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