SURROUNDED by a flock of attention-seeking swans, ponies and parrots, Jodie Marsh looks far from her prime as one hell of a glamor model.
The once fierce party girl is thriving in her new life running an animal sanctuary, which has become so sought after that she has now moved to a large new plot deep in Essex.
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Jodie Marsh thrives in her new life running an animal sanctuary Credit: Nicky Johnston
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He says most locals love the farm – although some trolls still give it grief Credit: Nicky Johnston
Giving us a first look at the stunning new property, the 44-year-old reveals she has even found love through her work building Fripps Farm, but admits not everyone is a fan.
Although many locals in the nearby town of Great Dunmow are regular visitors, bringing their children to see the animals, Jodie claims some shouted insults over the fence and cruelly called her a “s*g”.
“There are four people in four different houses who hate me for no reason,” he tells us. “And they trolled me.
“They are full of ASBOs, screaming abuse, flashing and blinding over the fence at me. And I don’t know why.”
The last time we visited Jodie, in May this year, she said she was the happiest she’d ever been to see Fripps Farm snowball since opening in 2020.
It then kept around 350 animals at its previous location in Chelmsford, including meerkats, sheep, emus, birds, rabbits and even a baby deer.
Since then, Fripps has also become a CIC (Community Interest Company), which is similar to charity status, meaning it is officially recognized as a “community service”, and can receive donations and funding assistance.
The sanctuary now has more than 600 animals, including “loads and loads of ducks”, more than 20 ungulates, meerkats, ferrets and many more exotic animals – including a noisy parrot that squawks during our interview.
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Jodie was better known for busting out of nightclubs in her glamor days as a modelCredit: Rex Features
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Now she has found love with ‘Mark the Builder’Credit: jodiemarshtv/instagram
Fripps even has a Shonkei named Ernie – a cross between a Shetland pony and a donkey, which he claims is the second born in the entire world.
“It’s lovely here,” Jodie says. “It’s like heaven, it’s like heaven on Earth. It’s a real, real sanctuary for animals.”
In addition to “acres and acres of land” for her many animals to run and play with, her new house includes an entertainment room made to look like a Barbie-pink diner, complete with a karaoke machine and a pool table.
Builder boy
And the man who helped make it all happen is ‘Mark the Builder’ – Jodie’s new man.
“That’s his official title,” he laughs. “He’s actually a builder for Fripps, and we met because he started working here, building animal housing.
“After three months of living together and working every day and every night, building housing for the animals, it had to happen.
“We kind of fell into it. So we fell into him – and he into me!”
Jodie was married twice. The first marriage with James Peacock was in 2007, and it lasted only two months after the couple met on the reality show Totally Jodie Marsh: Who’ll Take Her Up the Aisle?
She was then married to James Placido for eight months in 2016, and they eventually split after she claimed he made “money demands”.
Jodie was also engaged to DJ David Doyle in 2006 after just 11 days of dating, but the couple split just weeks later.
But she insists on taking it easy with Mark.
She adds: “We are not announcing anything big. We’re not like, ‘We’re in love,’ none of that shit. None of that engagement or falling in love with me.
“We haven’t even said the L word. And we won’t.
“I’m an adult now and instead of falling in love with every boyfriend I’ve ever had, getting engaged and trying to get married and all the stupid things I’ve done in the past, no, I’m just an adult now.
“Now I’m like, I own a rescue center, I have a cool guy, he’s fine. Life is good!”
Jodie continues to discover how “different” Mark is from some of her exes.
She says: “I’ve had boyfriends, I’m not kidding, who were jealous of the love I gave my animals.
“I had one who once threatened to shoot my dog because he said ‘you love the dog more than me and one day I’m going to shoot that fucking dog’. Those were his words.
“So I said, ‘When you shoot the dog, I will literally kill you and bury you under my patio. That’s what will happen if you shoot my dog.’
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Jodie says previous boyfriends hated her animals Credit: Nicky Johnston
“Luckily he didn’t shoot the dog.”
Jodie continues: “Mark is wonderful. He is different, because he understands me.
“And he’s very funny, he makes me laugh a lot – but, yeah, he just gets me, like he gets that animals come first.
“He understands that my life is saving animals.
“When I get a phone call at one o’clock in the morning and someone says, ‘You’ve got to go get this injured deer out of the woods and get torches to find it 20 miles away,’ he realizes I’m going to say yes to that.”
Saving lives
Since Fripps became CIC, Jodie has been even busier saving the lives of animals, including many local wildlife, which she rehabilitates and releases back into the wild.
Jeff Beck’s money was also bequeathed to the shrine when the legendary guitarist died earlier this year.
“I have no idea how he ever heard of Fripps!” says Jodie.
He is also in talks with various TV companies to make a documentary about life at Fripps Farm – and sees it as a cross between Clarkson’s Farm and Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs.
She says: “Now we get TV offers every day, but if I’m going to do a TV show, I have to negotiate the best possible fee for the animals.
“We also need to negotiate the best possible editing scenario in terms of production house and editing, because there are some production houses and channels that will really bring you together.
“There are some who are just wonderful and want to put on a good show.
“Regardless, I think the Fripps TV show needs to happen.”
There was a time when Jodie was never off our TV screens and magazine covers, dropping out of every major showbiz party and hanging out with some of the biggest celebrities in the world.
She recently slammed former ‘party crooner’ Omid Scobie – who made headlines with his book about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Endgame – and recalls many other encounters with major Hollywood A-listers during her prime.
She says: “I’ve met Beyonce, Tom Cruise, the Black Eyed Peas, Robbie Williams, you name it, I’ve met them from when I went to all the red carpet events, premieres and all that.”
In fact, she reveals one megastar – certainly more famous than Scobie – she forgot she met was Bradley Cooper, who even “saw her naked”.
She laughs: “I often talk about famous people and forget that I have met them.
“My friends and I were talking about Bradley Cooper the other day; we were all sitting here in a big circle talking about him, and then one of my friends suddenly said, ‘You’ve met him, Jode, you’ve met Bradley Cooper’.
“I shared a private plane with him and I forgot I met him.”
“Bradley Cooper saw me naked,” he continues, before adding with a smile: “It’s not as exciting as it sounds.
“I was wearing a sweater, on the plane, with a giant, enlarged picture from one of my glamor shoots at the zoo and I was completely naked on it so of course he was looking at this naked picture of me.”
Luckily for builder Mark, it looks like 2024 will be another year of hanging out with her rescue animals rather than Hollywood movie stars!
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Jodie forgets many of the stars she met – including Hollywood actor Bradley Cooper Credit: JodieMarsh/Twitter
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education