Vinnie Jones makes first appearance with new love five years after wife’s death

Vinnie Jones made his first public outing with his girlfriend Emma Ford earlier this week.

The former footballer was seen on the red carpet on Wednesday with his new TV producer beau at the West End debut of Only Fools and Horses: The Musical at the Eventim Apollo. 

The 59-year-old Hollywood hardman, known for appearances in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and The Gentleman, was seen smiling ear-to-ear as he was pictured with Emma.

The TV producer and actress first met Vinnie after he employed her to be his PA in 2022.

The pair have since appeared together on his TV show ‘In The Country‘, detailing his life after taking on 2,000 acres of West Sussex countryside and a host of over-ambitious farmyard-build projects. 

Vinnie is set to star in 28 shows of Only Fools and Horses: The Musical at London’s Hammersmith Eventim Apollo.

At their first public outing earlier this week the pair were all smiles as they got set for his debut gala performance as gangster Danny Driscoll in the West End show.

Vinnie was married to his late wife Tanya Terry from 1994 until her death, first meeting at 12 years old as next-door neighbours.

After a heart transplant aged 21 and twice beating cervical cancer, Tanya was tragically diagnosed with skin cancer in 2013.

She passed away six years later after the deadly disease had spread to her brain.

Vinnie and their daughter Kaley were with her at her bedside during her death on 6 July 2019.

TV’s hardman discussed Tanya’s passing during an appearance on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories in 2020 saying he had no plans to remarry.

Two years later he met Emma who he had employed to be his PA with the pair looking loved-up as Vinnie wrapped an arm around her at Wednesday’s event.

The former footballer rose to fame for his aggressive style of play – and temper – both on and off the pitch.

He struggled with alcoholism and in 1995, bit the nose of a journalist in a Dublin bar before heading into the woods behind his and Tanya’s Hertfordshire home with a shotgun with the intention of ending his own life.

Two years later the ex-footballer was convicted of assaulting a neighbour in a late-night row.

In 2012 he was pictured kissing a girl in a Russian nightclub nearly ending his 20-year marriage to Tanya. 

His late wife had previously said of him: “Even when he was a tearaway lad, I knew he had a good heart.”

Speaking to The Mirror earlier this year, Vinnie had admitted to finding love again after the pain of losing his wife.

He said: “You know, after four months, four years, five years, 10 years, you just keep moving forwards; the grief is always going to be in there.”