Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is one of Britain’s most recognisable athletes.
During her sporting career, the extraordinarily talented track and field athlete raised the bar for heptathlon events, breaking records in the 100-metre hurdles, high jump and indoor pentathlon. A three-time world champion (2009, 2011, and 2015) and a gold medal Olympian in 2012, Ennis-Hill certainly made history.
Ennis-Hill is now embarking on an emotional journey of self-discovery, looking into her family history on BBC One’s Who Do You Think You Are? which airs on Thursday at 9pm.
Here’s a comprehensive look at Ennis-Hill’s life, from the furore around heavyweight boxer Tyson Fury’s comments about her, to the harrowing family secrets she discovered.
Sex ban
Given the success Ennis-Hill enjoyed during her athletic career, it would be safe to assume that she left nothing to chance. To achieve the goal of winning Olympic gold, the Sheffield athlete made a lot of sacrifices – but she wasn’t the only one.
In the build-up to London 2012, Ennis-Hill revealed that then-boyfriend Andy Hill would also be missing out, too, with the heptathlete telling the Mirror that sex is out of the question before a big competition.
Definitely,” she laughed. “I never see Andy before or during the competition. I see him right afterwards. But it can be a few weeks.
“Sometimes it is difficult because I go away for three weeks at a time – like before Barcelona when I was at the Aviva warm-up training camps.
“It is weird. But sometimes it is nice as it kind of freshens up the relationship a little bit. It’s nice to have a bit of a break every now and again. But I do miss him – though I think that he enjoys having a bit of time to himself every now and again. He can watch what he wants on TV.”
Tyson Fury storm
A few years after the highs of 2012, Ennis-Hill found herself dragged into a more unpalatable story.
Having been nominated for the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, she found herself part of a furore when boxer and fellow nominee Tyson Fury said that Ennis-Hill “looks quite fit when she’s got a dress on”.
In an interview that was derided as sexist and homophobic, Fury was asked for his opinions on women sport and Ennis-Hill in particular, saying: “That’s the runner, isn’t it? She’s good, she’s won quite a few medals, she slaps up good as well. When she’s got a dress on she looks quite fit.”
In the same interview, Fury added: “I believe a woman’s best place is in the kitchen and on her back.”
At the time, more than 130,000 people signed a petition for Fury to be removed from the shortlist, while long jumper Greg Rutherford threatened to withdraw himself from the shortlist as he didn’t wish to share a stage with the boxer.
Ennis-Hill insisted that the shine wasn’t taken off her nomination after Fury’s comments. “No, I’m still really looking forward to it,” she said prior to the event.
I didn’t go last year so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s always a really nice evening getting to see a few people you haven’t see for a while and it should be great in Belfast.”
Ennis-Hill came third in that year’s public vote, behind winner Andy Murray and rugby league legend Kevin Sinfield. In the following years, she would state that she didn’t “take anything to heart” and that “it was one of those comments and you have to have a bit of a laugh around it”.
She also said that Fury’s 2018 comeback to boxing was “inspiring” and “very impressive”.
Tears at tragic family discovery
During her career, Ennis-Hill demonstrated her mental resilience numerous times – but delving into her family history has certainly tested that.
On Who Do You Think You Are?, Ennis-Hill has found herself weeping in front of the BBC cameras, despite vowing to herself that she wouldn’t break down.
While Ennis-Hill had expected to find athletic stars in her family tree, she instead ended up being taken to the sugar plantation where her great-great-great-grandfather – unbeknown to her – had been enslaved. He had been born into slavery in the late 1700s in Jamaica.
Thankfully, there was a happier ending, as he managed to secure independence and make enough money away from the plantation until he was able to buy the land from the man enslaving him.
“It looked so beautiful, the house and the immaculate gardens, but then there’s this awful feeling of history there,” Ennis-Hill said, as she was moved to tears by the “eerie feeling” visiting the plantation gave her.
There was another heart-breaking moment as she learned about the troubled history on her mother’s side of the family too.
Her great-great-grandmother Maud had mysteriously disappeared way back in 1919, never to see the young children she seemingly abandoned ever again. However, it turned out that she never actually left them, but was instead committed to a psychiatric hospital, where she lived until her death.
Tragically, when her 11-year-old daughter died, no one told her great-great-grandmother, which was tough for Ennis-Hill to process.
“What if I was whisked off to an asylum and I never saw my kids again and my young daughter died while I was in there, and nobody told me?” she said. “Part of me thought, has she ended up in this asylum because she’s just gone against the grain?”