Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Soap king Sid’s baby joy & wedding at 49
Sid Owen pops the question and reveals he’s going to be a dad at 49
SOAP legend Sid Owen today says he is nappier than ever as he reveals he is getting married – and becoming a dad at 49.
Former wild child Sid, who played Ricky Butcher in EastEnders, found romance and new happiness after years as a singleton when he reconnected with old flame Victoria Shores.
They rekindled their romance in lockdown and Sid, who used to blow £200 a night on cocaine in the 1990s, says he has now settled down and knew Victoria was “the one”.
He popped the question last month – and can now reveal Victoria’s baby is due in January. Delighted Sid, 49, told the Sunday Mirror: “I never ever dreamt I would have kids.
The older you get the more distant that idea seems, you give up hope sometimes, so it is a miracle it has happened.
“We’d spoken about it when we talked about marriage but I just didn’t think it was going to happen. I was completely shocked and over the moon.”
The couple know the sex of the baby but are keeping it secret. Waitress Victoria,
42 – a mum of two – says Sid will be a “chilled dad”.And the chuffed actor adds: “I’m glad I am doing it now rather than in my 20s, I would have been a rubbish dad then. Vic wants to lose her weight and we want the baby at the wedding – just sat in a pram looking pretty.”
The couple’s news emerged in a moving interview in which Sid opens his heart to the Mirror about love, life and starting a family.
He also reveals he nearly gave up on love after a freak golf accident in January 2020 left him temporarily disfigured and destroyed his confidence. He broke his jaw, lost several teeth and needed £10,000 of reconstructive surgery after a ball hit him in the face on a Thai break.
Sid says he went days without leaving the house. He reveals: “I was single for five or six years, you get used to it and it becomes the norm. I was quite down and a bit depressed.
“Then I had the golfing accident and it knocked me for six. I lost a lot of teeth, they weren’t looking great and it was also lockdown. I was pretty lost. I didn’t have the confidence to meet people or go on any dates. I got stuck in a rut. You are single for a few years and you become used to it, you become selfish in your ways.
“But since meeting Victoria life is worth living again. I messaged her and we hit it off again. I count my blessings because I’d lost my way. I was a little bit messed up but luckily I snapped out of it when I met Vic. For the first time in my life I felt someone was not with me for that shallowness or fame or whatever, she just accepts me for me.”
Sid and Victoria first dated in 1998, after meeting at a party thrown by Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood back in Sid’s hard-partying days. After a gap of more than 20 years they started chatting via Facebook a year ago.
Victoria, 42, cheerfully recalls their first ever meeting. She says: “It was a big party. Kate Moss was there, John Galliano, Noel Gallagher, Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger. Sid doesn’t remember how we met, but I do. I remember standing in the kitchen and having a glass of wine. He walked in and I thought he had a cheeky smile.
“I think I knew who he was but it wasn’t a big thing to me, I didn’t watch EastEnders or much
TV. He came towards me and he playfully hit Ronnie’s son Jamie and said ‘Is she single?’ – but looking at me so I could hear him. He asked for my number and I gave it to him.”
Sid adds with a chuckle: “I was certainly keen!” The pair then went to see the Stones play in Amsterdam and dated for a year. But the relationship fizzled out and Victoria went on to marry and have two kids – while party boy Sid became one of TV’s most eligible bachelors.
He says: “I’m so glad we are back together now because we would never have lasted back then. I was on EastEnders and it was all a bit crazy.
“I suppose it was hard to hold a relationship at that time, I was young and on TV.
MAGICAL
“I had a few short-term relationships, nothing serious really. After my last relationship I thought I was going to be a bachelor for life.”
Sid reveals he popped the question at Eastwell Manor spa in Kent – after first asking her dad’s permission in a nerve-racking phone call.
Sid says: “I love her parents, and I called her dad. I wanted to do it with them and her family but then I didn’t think it would be that personal.
“So I booked the bridal suite for the two of us, there was champagne and flowers and I got down on one knee.” Victoria adds: “There were a few tears. It was really special.”
Plans for the big day are well under way.
Sid goes on: “After I proposed we went for dinner and for a walk around the grounds. There was actually a magical little garden which looked like it was for weddings. We both agreed straight away that that was where we wanted to have it.” A number of Sid’s pals from TV’s Queen Vic will be there. They include Charlie Brooks – screen sis Janine – and Patsy Palmer, who as Bianca famously coined the moniker “Rickaaaaay!” And he’s hoping Patsy will DJ on the night. “I was going to get my mate Bruce Springsteen to sing,” he laughs. “Ed Sheeran too. Definitely live music and good DJs. Patsy is really good, she DJ’d at my 40th so I will ask her.”
Sid will have two best men – including Simon Konecki, ex-husband of singer Adele. And the pop star herself could be there too.
Even Hollywood legend Al Pacino – who played Sid’s dad in 1985 film Revolution – might be joining the guests. Sid says: “I’ll invite Al Pacino. Funnily enough, Dexter Fletcher (who also starred in Revolution) texted me a couple of weeks ago to say congratulations on my book, and he said he was with Al who sends his best.”
Victoria’s 12-year-old son will be a page boy and her daughter, 13, will be maid of honour.
In his brilliant new book From Rags to Ricky, the actor writes about his troubled upbringing, including his dad going to prison for robbery and the death of his mum when he was eight.
Sid says he has had therapy since he was a teen and it helped him overcome past traumas.
He reveals: “I started in my teens at EastEnders and into my 20s, which were the best and the worst times. You go through experimenting with drink and drugs. I was troubled and damaged, I didn’t grow up with any parents so it’s inevitable you are going to be like that, but you think you are invincible.”
Right now, though, things couldn’t be better. And he adds: “I feel very lucky to be here. There have been many times when I felt scared of getting home or even waking up.
“I do count my blessings, especially after meeting Victoria. I’m very content and happy.”
From Rags to Ricky, by Sid Owen, is out now
I was lost and a bit messed up.. meeting her snapped me out of it SID OWEN ACTOR SAYS HE’S HAPPY ONCE MORE