EastEnders legend Sid Owen, known for playing Ricky Butcher, was once engaged to a glamour model-turned-TV presenter, but after their split, she went on to marry a footballer.
EastEnders legend Sid Owen and a glamour model-turned-TV personality were engaged for three years before she eventually married a Premier League star.
Owen, 53, is widely recognised for his role as Ricky Butcher in the iconic BBC soap, where his on-off romance with Patsy Palmer’s Bianca often led to her famous shout of “Rickaaaaaaay!” whenever he got himself into trouble. But off screen, his real-life relationships have also been filled with highs and lows.
In October 2006, the then-34-year-old began dating Polly Parsons — who was 22 at the time and known for her roles in Nickelodeon UK shows Genie in the House and Disastrous. The pair met while performing together in a pantomime production of Snow White.
They got engaged in 2009 and planned to tie the knot in September 2010. Polly even modelled the wedding lingerie she intended to wear in a Daily Star photoshoot. However, the couple briefly split for two months when the wedding planning “became too much,” though they later reconciled and rearranged their big day.
The pair — who were infamously photographed in the early days of their romance fighting outside an Essex nightclub, with security restraining Polly as she swung her handbag at Owen after another woman had reportedly chatted him up — later clashed over where their wedding should take place.
The Bristol-born beauty had her heart set on returning to Barbados for the wedding — the place where Owen had proposed after swimming out to a raft with a ring he claimed a man on the beach had crafted from beads in “reggae colours,” a gesture Polly described as “really romantic.”
However, he told the former Don’t Get Screwed presenter that he preferred a 600-year-old farmhouse in France as the setting for their big day.
Their on-off romance finally came to an end in 2012 — shortly before Polly went on to present the BBC Three hidden-camera scam series The Real Hustle.
Owen — who once admitted the pair slept in separate beds because she couldn’t cope with his “rhino-like snoring” — confirmed their breakup in April 2012, telling the Sunday Mirror: “We’re still good friends but we are not together anymore. I’m single.”
Later that year, Polly found love once more, this time with former Arsenal defender Thomas Vermaelen.
Polly, now 41, and FA Cup winner Thomas Vermaelen — who turned 40 yesterday (Friday, November 14) — are believed to have first crossed paths at a house party thrown by his former teammate Robin van Persie in 2012.
Vermaelen, who started his career at Ajax in the Netherlands before Arsène Wenger brought him to Arsenal in a £10 million deal in 2009, was clearly taken with the glamorous TV star.
He had previously been in a relationship with Dutch model Aimee van Ommen, but quickly fell for Polly, who was crowned “Queen WAG” by FHM in 2014, just beating German World Cup winner Sami Khedira’s model girlfriend Lena Gercke to the title.
Vermaelen eventually became Arsenal’s captain, although he later lost his regular starting spot to the defensive pairing of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.
He collected his only Arsenal trophy as an unused substitute in the team’s 3–2 victory over Hull City in the 2014 FA Cup Final.
That summer, Vermaelen departed for Barcelona in a £15 million move. Speaking about the transfer, he said: “This is one of the biggest clubs in the world, so it wasn’t a hard choice. Everyone wants to play here, and I’m no exception.”
Unfortunately for the Belgian defender, injuries severely limited his time on the pitch at Barcelona, and he made only 34 appearances over five seasons — a period in which the Catalan giants won four La Liga titles.
He married Polly in 2017 after returning from an unsuccessful loan spell at Roma. Their wedding was held in Italy and attended by several football stars, including Van Persie. Their two children, Ace and Raff, were also there to celebrate the big day.
Although his club career eventually dwindled — finishing with three years at Japanese side Vissel Kobe — Vermaelen still shone on the international stage, playing a key role in Belgium’s impressive 2018 World Cup campaign, where they secured a third-place finish.
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