Jodie Marsh's millionaire childhood laid bare - private school and sprawling estate with pool

Jodie Marsh has made a fortune through glamour modelling and reality TV.

The 46-year-old shot to fame in the early noughties as a Page Three glamour model and became quickly known for her outlandish outfits and heated rivalry with fellow lads' mags heavyweight .

She also starred in the likes of Celebrity and even had her own show, Totally Jodie Marsh. These days, however, Jodie leads a very different life away from the bright lights of red carpets and paparazzi in favour of her simple life on the farm.

But what you might not know is Jodie's story is not exactly a 'rag to riches' one. Before finding fame, Essex-born Jodie already enjoyed a life of extraordinary privilege as a straight A student who was raised on a sprawling estate by minted mum and dad.

Her savvy parents Kristina Marsh - who tragically died from cancer in 2020 - and dad John were self-made millionaires thanks to their scaffolding business.

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They snapped up a Tudor-style mansion with a swimming pool in the countryside near the exclusive village of Brentwood, Essex. Jodie even had her own house that her dad had built for her in the grounds of the family estate.

As a child, she was a pupil at the £10,000-a-year private Brentwood School where she earned 11 GCSEs at A and B grades, plus three straight As in her A-levels.

Jodie initially dreamed of becoming a vet or a lawyer, but ended up raking in a whopping £10,000 a week while lap dancing - something she absolutely loved doing.

"My mum and dad have their own scaffolding business, and they had all of this money and houses, and I was a lap dancer," she told ESPN. "I wanted to earn my own money. It was good money at the time, about £10,000 a week in cash."

Her big break came when she starred on ITV's reality TV show, Essex Wives, while working as a pole dancer for Stringfellows. The glamour modelling job offers came flying in after her exposure on the show.

She became one of the UK's top paid glamour stars, infamous for wearing her belt as a top and for her bitter feud with fellow model . And looking back, despite abandoning her academic dreams, Jodie said she wouldn't change a thing.

She once told the Guardian: "I could've been a lawyer by now, I could've gone to uni. But I've taken the quickest and easiest route to making as much money as I can, and having as much fun as I can, and I don't regret that."

But despite her comfortable and loving home life, Jodie's teenage years were far from happy after cruel school bullies mercilessly terrorised her and left her feeling suicidal.

In Channel 5 documentary, Bullied: My Secret Past, she told how the bullies tormented her over her thick glasses and broken nose, which she injured in a hockey accident, and would kick footballs at her head.

Desperate to fly under their radar, the star would hide in fear in the school library at lunch. "My bullying at school changed my life," said Jodie.

"After I broke my nose in a hockey accident, they started picking on my nose and then I got called ugly and big nose, dodgy nose and all sorts of things right the way through secondary school.

"By the end of my time secondary school I didn't have a single friend there. I was a complete loner at school. I contemplated suicide loads of times."

And so at 15 Jodie decided to prove her persecutors wrong by getting a nose job and becoming a model. She added: "I only do what I do now because of being bullied. I decided to become a model to prove to my bullies that I wasn't ugly."

*If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email or visit their site to find your local branch.

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