Jo Wood, who has been boxing for years, reveals a scary encounter when out with her daughter – and how she stepped up to the plate in her defence when it happened
Jo Wood, who turned 70 in March, has opened up about an encounter which left her shaking with anger during a night out with her daughter Leah, 46. The model, TV personality and health entrepreneur, who has attended regular boxing classes for years, had an unexpected run-in with a drunk stranger – and no prizes for guessing who came off worse.
“Years ago, some drunk guy grabbed a hat off my daughter and I just took off and ran after him, grabbed the hat and tripped him over at the same time,” Jo recalls during an exclusive chat with OK!,. “He fell on the floor. I said, ‘Don’t f**k with me and my daughter.’ I was so furious. I wonder if I could do that now? Of course I could!”
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Jo, who divorced from ex, Rolling Stones rocker Ronnie Wood in 2009, admits she’s still got a mean right hook. “I have actually,” she smiles. “I’ve been doing it for years. I love it.”
And the multi-talented star packs a punch in more ways than one. As well as running successful businesses Jo Wood Organics and Longevity Wellness – and being a doting grandmum to 10, Jo has penned her debut novel – inspired to do so after going on a date.
The Resurrection Of Flo draws on the star’s own fighting spirit, following her own experiences of heartbreak and divorce – and a call to arms for women, that divorce doesn’t mean your life’s over. “It’s a story really for women to be able to pick themselves up whatever age you are, even if you’d be 70 or 80, to pick yourself up and get back out there again,” Jo explains.
“I bumped into a girlfriend I hadn’t seen for years, and she turned around to me and said she’d just split with her husband. She said, ‘My life’s over now.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not. Are you crazy?’ I was 53 when my husband walked out on me. I said, ‘It’s not over.’
The date with a man, which inspired her to write her book involved him opening up to her about the breakdown of his marriage. “I walked out of that restaurant and I walked down the road and I thought, ‘That would make such a great story.’ And that was it.”
From there, mum-of-three Jo — who as well as daughter Leah has sons Jamie, 50, and Tyrone, 41, laughs as she admits of her main character, “She’s not as silly as me, but she does make lots of mistakes like I have.”
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