Inside I’m A Celebrity’s Beverley Callard’s wild love story with ‘mega sh*g’ husband Jon McEwan – & how he won her heart
I’M A Celebrity has had its fair share of bombshells this year – from Ruthie spilling the tea on Prince Edward, to Shane revealing the HUGE fee he got for his Daz adverts.
But none left viewers quite as shocked as when Coronation Street legend Beverley Callard, 63, referred to her beloved husband Jon McEwan as “mega sh*g”.
The actress has now admitted that she “wanted to die” when she realised the show had aired her crude nickname, while speaking to Lorraine following her exit from the show alongside Victoria Derbyshire.
“I can’t believe they aired that,” she said. “I just thought they were quite bad words so they’ll edit that, when Ant and Dec played the clip for me last night I wanted to die.”
Beverley made the bold claim in camp last week, telling her fellow contestants: “Jon’s very handsome… “He is a mega sh*g and he dances for me in the kitchen every morning and makes me laugh my socks off.”
It’s just the latest development in a wild and loved-up marriage for the pair, however. Here, we delve into her marriage with fourth husband Jon…
Winning her heart after string of heartbreaks
Beverley had been married three times before tying the knot with her current husband.
The Corrie actress married her first husband Paul Atkinson in 1974, but they went their separate ways in 1977.
The pair share daughter Rebecca Callard, 43, who has followed in Beverley’s footsteps and pursued an acting career.
Beverley then tied the knot with her second husband, teacher David Sowden, in 1980, but they divorced in 1988.
The TV star went on to marry her third husband Steve Callard in 1989 and welcomed their son Joshua into the world, before splitting 12 years after the ceremony.
Following the heartbreaking splits, Bev has admitted she wanted to “stay single forever” before meeting Jon, and that she was initially reluctant to go on a blind date with him.
“I really didn’t want to go because at the time I thought all men were b******s and I wanted to stay single forever,” she told OK! magazine.
“We organised one date and I chickened out and stood him up. Then, on the second attempt, I turned up and saw he had a shaved head, a gold tooth and was covered in tattoos and I thought, what am I doing?!”
Romantic beach proposal & wedding with 22 bridesmaids
Despite her reservations, he won her over and Beverley has been happily married to the recording studio owner for the last ten years.
He proposed to the Liz McDonald actress in May 2010 on a beach in Spain, with Bev admitting she had no make-up on and was wearing a baseball cap – but the intimate moment swept her off her feet.
They planned the wedding in just five months and almost two dozen bridesmaids were scrambled to help them tie the knot at Hazlewood Castle Hotel, West Yorkshire, that October.
Jon is now planning a surprise vow renewal for her when she leaves Gwrych castle.
He thinks renewing the vows will be the perfect way to see off 2020.
“We’ve been through everything – bankruptcy, depression, electroconvulsive therapy, hip operations. We got through it all together,” he told The Sunday Mirror.
“So I thought, as a couple, we should celebrate where we are now… She’s my queen already. Just by walking through the I’m A Celeb gates, she’s won in life.”
He added: “In my head, I see candles everywhere, twinkly lights, intimate and romantic. I’m kind of happy we have these restrictions so the guest list doesn’t get out of control.”
How his health scare left her ‘numb’
Beverley had a horrific scare in 2016, however, when she revealed she thought she’d lost her husband after he collapsed at the supermarket.
She said of the incident: “Jon’s my rock. I see him as indestructible so when I was told he had collapsed, I just went numb.
“He is never ill. What happened came completely out of the blue.
“I was on my way to A&E with my stepson Jonathan and I was begging, please God no, this cannot be.
“I was incredibly frightened because I didn’t know what I’d do if something happened to him.
“He’s my soulmate and my best friend. He’s completely and utterly the love of my life.”
Beverley also paid tribute to Jon that year by unveiling her new tattoo.
The actress, who was 59 at the time, showed off her new inking on Twitter with the simple caption: “Inked today xx.”
The tattoo featured tragedy and comedy masks over a score sheet, alongside a large heart containing the couple’s names and the date of the pair’s wedding anniversary.
‘Saving her’ amid mental health battle
Bev has previously credited her husband with saving her following suicide bids and electro shock therapy.
The star spent two months in the Priory in February 2009 after being overwhelmed by mental health issues.
Facing her late mother’s Alzheimer’s diagnoses and debts of £150,000 from her and Jon’s failed pub business, the stress got too much for the star.
After trying medication her doctor said would “literally put a horse to sleep”, Bev underwent 12 rounds of electric shock therapy.
She explained the treatments left her unable to walk, wash, speak or cry as she laid in the foetal position.
When things got so bad, her husband Jon – who she was engaged to at the time – stayed by her bedside, and even thwarted two suicide attempts.
“It wasn’t just the fact that Jon rumbled me to the nurses that saved me from ending it all,” she told The Mirror in 2010.
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“It was much more than that. He stood by me, through everything. He never gave up trying to understand my torment.
“Even though after visiting me he’d go to his car and cry his heart out. Even though he’d see me curled into a ball with matted hair, unable to speak or move and no one was sure if I’d get better.”
He truly does appear to be her knight in shining armour.