BRITAIN’S most-married man has found love once again, despite swearing off the possibility of another relationship just five months ago.
Ron Sheppard, 75, from Somerset, has been married a staggering eight times and declared in March that he was ‘done with marriage.’
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However, in June the father-of-eight found himself back on dating apps in search of some companionship and has since fallen for Alison, 52.
Speaking exclusively to Fabulous, Ron says: “I’ve always hated being alone.
“I had sort of given up on the idea of finding anyone at my age but I longed for the company and so I gave dating apps another chance.
“I got chatting to Alison and we really clicked.
“She’s a bit older than my previous love interests but we have a lot in common and share similar values.
“Like me she’s been married before and she was a huge support to me while I was in hospital recently.”
Originally from China, administrator Alison lives in Dorset just over an hour’s drive from Ron’s home in Somerset.
As Ron has spent several weeks in hospital the pair are yet to meet but are hoping to set up a date with one another in September.
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“She’s already asked me what I would like to eat when we meet and she’s planning on cooking noodles on our first date,” hopeful Ron says.
“She comes across as a great cook but that’s not the main reason I am with her.
“Alison is very loving and caring, she’s been a huge support to me throughout my time in hospital.
“I’ve been on my own for six years so this feels like a long time coming.
“Alison, has given me a new hope to be happy again, I feel like a new man.”
But while Ron is very happy in his new relationship, marriage is not on the cards just yet.
“We will just see how it goes,” he says.
“Of course people my age do get married but we’re still in the early stages of our relationship so it’s too soon to tell.”
Ron's longest marriage lasted 13 years, and his shortest was just 10 months.
He first got married in 1966 to Margaret and the couple had three kids but they later divorced after two years.
Wife number two was Jeanette and they wed in 1973 although the marriage lasted just one year.
Ron married for the third time in 1976 to Lesley and they had two boys together before he left her five years later.
Kathy became wife number four in 1982, and the couple, who had a daughter, worked as Bluecoats at Pontins with Shane Richie.
Ron then married Sue in 1986 and had two boys, but after 11 years she threw him out.
Usha from Singapore was next to tie the knot with him in 1999, followed by Wan in 2003 and Weng a year later.
Ron almost got married for the ninth time.
He was engaged to an American woman called Rose Hans, who he had never met, but he called it off in 2019 saying "it didn't feel right."
The former tour manager of comedian Norman Wisdom says that he has "no regrets" about any of his marriages because he has eight children.
He puts his quest to find 'the one' down to his being sexually abused as a child.
"It left me with a lot of problems, I was constantly craving companionship and I turned to women", he said.
Ron released his autobiography Lord of The Weddings, in 2014, and is still working on a second book The Wife Collector, which he says is going to be released alongside a film about his remarkable life.
Oscar-winning German producer Sven Ebeling’s West Coast Pictures is set to produce the film also titled The Wife Collector.
The filmmaker got interested after seeing Ron’s 2014 autobiography — The Lord Of The Wedding Rings.
Jude Law, 48, is tipped to play Ron — while ex-EastEnder star Joe Swash, 39, is also in the frame.
Ron said: "It's a really strange thought to think my life is going to be the subject of a movie, but I'm loving it.
"I've had a remarkable life by any standard and I think it's a great story, which is why I wrote my autobiography."
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