Jo Wood breaks silence about hubby Ron's affair

STRICTLY star Jo Wood today reveals the whole truth about the break-up of her marriage to Rolling Stone Ronnie - and how she buried her wedding ring in a COFFIN.

Breaking her silence about his affair with 19-year-old Russian cocktail waitress Ekaterina Ivanova, defiant Jo even THANKS her for taking the sozzled old rocker off her hands.

WATCH JO'S VIDEO INTERVIEW BELOW

"She did me a favour," the 54-year-old blonde tells the News of the World. "She has now become ME, having to look after Ronnie full-time. And I have now become HER - free and single."

Letting rip with a volley of laughter, Jo adds: "When she was crowing about winning Ronnie from me, I just thought, 'You can have him'.

"I did my 31 years with him. But my time was up when I finally caught him cheating. And it was time for me to do something else."

The former model has emerged with flying colours from the dark days last July when Ronnie, 61, took off on a booze-and-sex bender with Ekaterina and then set up home with her.

She's stepping out in Strictly Come Dancing . . . and stepping out in a new life too after giving her wedding ring a proper FUNERAL.

Jo reveals: "A well-wisher sent me a coffin ring box out of the blue. When I opened it, I just thought, 'how fabulous!' I did a little ceremony and in the ring went.

"I now keep the box on a shelf of what was Ronnie's old bar in the house which I have turned into a coffee bar.

"I've packed his clothes away and taken his pictures down. It was hard at first, but now it's completely fine. By Christmas I was pretty 'RW-clear' in the house."

When we meet in the stunning £12 million family home she used to share with Ronnie in Kingston, Surrey, the only reminders of him are 20-or-so guitars haphazardly stacked in the conservatory.

"They're Ronnie's," she says, rolling her eyes before adding with a mischievous grin: "I was thinking of putting them on eBay."

We talk about their split - how she used to loyally believe he had NEVER had any other affairs and how she would NEVER take him back now. And also how she's moving on with her life and can't wait to fall in LOVE again.

Cheating

Jo reveals how the collapse of their 31-year relationship - 24 of them married-started when she discovered a text sent to him from Ekaterina. She says that what made this fling different from all the others Ronnie is rumoured to have had, is that she had PROOF he was cheating.

"He always denied his affairs - he's VERY good at doing that - and I always believed in him so much, I never thought he would cheat," says Jo who raised four children with him - Leah, 30 Tyrone, 25, Jamie, 34 - her son from her first marriage - and Jesse, 32, Ronnie's son from a previous relationship.

"I'd met Ekaterina a couple of times. She was very sweet and I had no idea what was going on. Then I found a text message on Ronnie's phone - and thought: 'Omigod, what's going on here?' "I can't tell you what it said because Ronnie would kill me. If I told you, you'd die.

"I just thought, 'Nah, Jo, this is not right'. And then I was like a little detective. And I found out. And that was it. If I don't know something, I can live with it. But if I know something, then I can't. My pride stepped in."

When asked what she thinks attracted a busty young Moscow beauty to her drunken multi-millionaire husband, Jo smiles and rubs her thumb and forefinger together - the universal sign for money.

"Being with Ronnie has certainly changed her life, that's for sure. And I'm sure she will stick it out for as long as she can," says Jo.

"And I hope so - because I don't want Ronnie to be on his own. I still care very much for him. I really do. You can't be with somebody all that time and not care for them.

"But I no longer have the urge to pick up the phone and make sure he is OK. When he admitted himself to rehab, I thought maybe we would get back together.

"But then I started to think to myself, 'Maybe it's a good thing if we do split up. Maybe it's a good thing for me to have my own life. And when I hear that he's drinking again and things like that, I think, 'Phew, thank God I don't have to look after him any more'."

In the flesh, Jo looks a cuter, more petite version of Goldie Hawn. Her face is dominated by sparkling blue eyes and a wide smile.

Next birthday she'll be 55 - and she is already a grandmother SIX times over. Yet there is no doubt she is still attractive to men.

Dating

But she insists she is in no rush to start playing the dating game.

"I'm not dating anyone at the moment. It's not important for me to have just any old boyfriend. I'm waiting for the right one to come along," she says.

"Even though I've absolutely no idea what my 'right man' would be now, he would have to be somebody I could have a really good laugh with. I'd consider anybody over 35 - but I'd certainly never date anyone younger than my sons. I'd feel a bit weird about that.

"There's plenty of time for me to fall madly in love. And I WANT to fall madly in love and have a different 'love' relationship. By that, I mean NOT a co-dependent relationship like the one I had with Ronnie.

"I don't want to ever have to look after a man again. I have been on dates - although I've managed to keep them all secret. But I don't get get asked out very much."

Right now the only man her concentration is focused on is Strictly dance partner, 33-year-old Brendan Cole. She scoffs at reports that they're not the best of pals. I actually get on REALLY well with Brendan. We have such a laugh in rehearsals. He's great. I love him," she smiles.

And she says pictures of her sobbing in the street outside the Strictly rehearsal studios were tears of frustration after trying to learn the opening Mambo group dance.

Jo explains: "We'd been doing 9 to 5 rehearsal for three days, practising the Mambo. That's NINE hours a day dancing. I've never done anything like that in my life.

"I used to dance backstage at Rolling Stones' gigs with a bottle of Jack Daniels in one hand, going: 'Wooo yeah, come on Mick!'' But I've never danced properly.

"It came to the end of the day and we watched the video - and on screen I looked just like a fairy elephant. It really upset me. Brendan followed me outside to try to comfort me. When the pictures were taken, I was flailing my arms in the air wailing to him, 'I don't want to be a fairy elephant, I want to be a fairy!'" I'm sure I'm not the best of pupils but at least I make him laugh." Ronnie told her she was "mad" for going on the show. "He doesn't approve at all. Maybe he didn't think I'd pick myself up and go-go-go. But I told him, 'You'd better vote for me' and he said he would."

After Strictly, Jo wants to get on with finalising her divorce and running her beauty products and candles firm, Jo Wood Organics.

She looks set to receive half of her ex-husband's £23million fortune as well as their old home PLUS a substantial monthly allowance. "I have my decree nisi and now everything is on hold until next year," she says.

"Hopefully, when the time comes, Ronnie and I will just sit down together, and I'll say: 'OK, I love this table and you have that and I'll have this'.

Friends

"We've both lived this life together and I'm going to share everything with him. Hopefully, we'll do it as friends."

Jo aims to sell their home as she moves on with her life. "This is a me-and-Ronnie house. Now all I want is a little pad in London, a little love nest," she giggles. All she misses about Ronnie is someone to care for.

"I'm one of those mothering people who love cooking dinner and all that. These days I don't have any food in my fridge and I haven't been like that for years. It's very liberating. It's like I'm a teenager again.

"There's actually not a lot I miss now. I certainly don't miss his drunken rages, that's for sure. Ronnie and I raised a great family. We had our ups and downs and I still love the man . . . or, rather, I still care for him, maybe that's the word. And I always will.

So would she ever take him back?

"No" she replies, without even a second's hesitation. "Without a doubt, no. I couldn't imagine him in my life again now.

"I think my daughter Leah has a dream that we will one day get back together. But my boys? No. They can see that I am happier now."

As for her future on Strictly, she says: "I would love to win although I can't imagine winning in a million years. But I hope to stay in for five or six weeks. That would be great.

"If somebody had told me a year ago, that I'd be single and doing Strictly Come Dancing, I'd have said: Oh yeah, very funny'.

"But you just can't tell what's going to happen in life. You just have to expect the unexpected. And then make the most of it."

STRICTLY Come Dancing returns to BBC One, next Friday at 8.30pm and Saturday, 7.25pm

• Brendan Cole reveals behind-the-scenes Strictly secrets
• Ronnie Wood: I still love you, Jo
• Join the great telly debate
• Ronnie Wood to buy lover's silence
• It's all going horribly Ron for Ronnie Wood and Kat
• Where did it all go Ron for Kat?
• Ronnie Wood pulls stranger

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