EXCLUSIVE Gladiators star Jet is seen for the first time since admitting she attacked ex wife during their toxic marriage as she arrives at fan convention in Newcastle

Daily Mail​

30-04-2025

Gladiators star Jet has been pictured looking in good spirits as she headed to a work meeting in Newcastle.
It is the first sighting of the star, whose real name is Diane Youdale, since she admitted during a February interview with the MailOnline that she had attacked her ex wife Zoe Gilbert after feeling 'bullied' during their year-long marriage.
Diane, 55, who starred as Jet on Gladiators' first four seasons from 1992-1995, smiled as she arrived at Nerd Fest at Gateshead Stadium, where she happily greeted friends and spent the day posing for photos with fans.
Gladiators star Jet looks in good spirits as she is seen for the first time since admitting she attacked ex wife during their toxic marriage.
In a nod to her lycra-clad Gladiator days the lifestyle and exercise coach wore leggings and a white jumper, carrying a green rucksack.
In February Jet spoke out on her short-lived married to teacher Zoe, who she wed during an intimate ceremony in July 2023, after Diane proposed just four months into their relationship.
Jet's relationship with Zoe was her first public romance with a woman and the star had previously gushed that she 'just knew' she was the one for her days after their meeting in a supermarket.
But speaking exclusively to MailOnline in February, the nineties pin-up admitted she 'snapped' during an incident in 2023 after claiming she was 'pushed over the edge'.
The former TV star says the pair's relationship reached a climatic point when Diane 'pressed on her chest three times' after Zoe had fallen over the back of a sofa during a vicious row.
Police were called to the property they shared in the North East and Diane was spoken to, but not arrested, and it proved to be the final straw for the couple a matter of weeks after they tied the knot in an intimate ceremony.
Diane also accuses teacher Zoe, 50, of turning her own family against her.
She even now believes their chance meeting in supermarket Tesco, when they first became acquainted, was actually a premeditated move by Zoe.
Super-fit Diane, who is now a counsellor and exercise coach, said she became 'suicidal' as her marriage crumbled, adding: 'She never loved me... I was hoodwinked.'
She continued: 'I was bait, I feel baited, I feel like I was chased by a wolf. I was absolutely played and now she's trying to make herself famous because of it.
'I am sickened to the core by her allegations. She wants to bring me down and dance on my grave.'
Describing how their relationship turned violent, Diane said: 'Eventually, I snapped.
'She fell over the back of the sofa. I pressed on her chest three times firmly and I said, "stop this now." I can't remember what happened then. The next thing I knew I was being led out by the police.
'The living room was an absolute mess, there was coffee up the walls, writing all over the walls. She is claiming that I did all that, but I didn't. I'm unsure what level of amnesia I must have had to block it out.'
The incident, which took place in 2023, happened at Zoe's home where Diane lived until the couple ended their relationship.
She claims the nature of their romance made her feel so low that she contemplated ending her life.
MailOnline has contacted Zoe Gilbert for comment.
Diane continued: 'I felt suicidal. She pushed me to the limit to suddenly make me the baddie, which is as clear as day now. She took pictures of her injuries, none of which I inflicted.
'She has claimed I picked her up at the top of the stairs and threw her down but if anything, I have a disc rupture.
'I would only lay hands on someone in rage if they were attacking a minor or an animal or in self-defence and I was never in self-defence around her. This was the final moment between us.'
Diane has lived a super healthy existence her entire life, which helped carve out a successful career on Gladiators, which relaunched last year on BBC One, back in the nineties.
Famous for her trademark hair flick and good looks, she became a hit with viewers - both male and female.
But she admits picking up dangerous habits during her time with Zoe, including developing a reliance on alcohol.
She claims the pair drank every night and rows would start around the same time, usually sparked by Zoe's concerns over her ex-partners and current work colleagues.
Diane said she would beg Zoe to stop and was desperate to move on from the toxic cycle of behaviour.
She explained: 'Zoe was mainly getting at me about any past relationships I had with women.
'I had been married in another lifetime very happily, very settled, very calmly and amicably.
'It wasn't my first rodeo, and I am good at long-term, settled and normal relationships.
'That's my relationship style but Zoe has never had that opportunity without it being full of drama. She wanted to create drama at night.
'Usually between 9-9:30pm, the same record would come out, I would say, 'Zoe this is getting repetitive, please stop this.'
'She accused me of sleeping with all my clients, all my friends, can you imagine being accused of that? She never understood me and celebrated nothing about the triumphs or successes in my life.'
Diane claimed Zoe turned her own family against her, going on to describe her heartache over her loved ones taking her partner's side during their fallout.
She said: 'The pack of people around her and I could list the names. It's so harrowing what's been happening.
'My family has never once asked me about what happened or my side. I am astonished by them. I am let down by them.
'Zoe is a professional victim. She is quite a small person and plays on "I'm only little.'"
Days after Diane spoke to MailOnline, teacher Zoe broke her silence to make a series of sensational claims about Diane - telling MailOnline how the marriage was a 'living nightmare' which soon turned violent with the gameshow pin-up repeatedly attacking her while drunk, pushing her downstairs and opening a door in her face and warning: 'I will rip you limb from limb.'
The abuse, she says, was so vile she was routinely called names like 'fat little c*** of a dwarf'.
Diane meanwhile has bitterly denied the claims against her - saying that she is teetotal, and has a back condition that makes her too frail to be violent. And she made the counter accusation that her ex-wife Zoe was herself frequently drunk and had invented her claims.
In support of her version of events Zoe took photographs of injuries which she has shared with MailOnline.
Zoe said: 'I suffered numerous assaults from Diane, she's still a strong and fit woman and I was terrified of her by the time our marriage came to an end.'
She said that when she showed her photographs to her horrified family they feared that 4ft 9in Zoe might be at risk if she didn't end the relationship.
The pair finally split in February 2024 and officially divorced in July of that year, just 12 months after their supermarket meeting.