A student nurse who spent three years in a secret relationship with abusive rugby star Stuart Hogg said she’s tried to warn his new girlfriend about him. Jilly O’Donnell has revealed she has reached out to jockey Leonna Mayor who has been with the disgraced sportsman since November last year and is now pregnant with his child.
Former Scotland international captain Hogg was convicted last week on a charge of domestic abuse against estranged wife Gillian. His controlling and manipulative behaviour was outlined in court but Leonna – once dubbed the world’s sexiest jockey – has vowed to stand by him.
Jilly, 47, who split with Hogg after finding out he was still with his wife, said: “Stuart told me this time was different and he had to do what he was told, so he had blocked me at Leonna’s request which was fine.
“I think Leonna actually saved him. I wished him well. The morning I woke up he had obviously unblocked my account and had been through liking all my pictures.
“I thought, ‘no you’ve done this again.’ I contacted Leonna to warn her. He put a post on social media saying someone had impersonated him. Again he was the victim. I told him to just take responsibility for his actions and leave me alone. It was a betrayal, but she dismissed it.”
Hogg and Leonna announced their relationship in November last year in an instagram post in a spa in Staffordshire. It came days after Hogg’s wife had given birth to their fourth child.
After it emerged the rugby star was facing charges for domestic abuse, Jilly also reached out to Hogg’s wife Gillian to apologise, confessing she was unaware the couple had still been together. Jilly told Gillian she had experienced similar behaviour and had been hounded by messages and calls from obsessive Hogg despite her telling him to leave her alone.
She said: “Gillian was very gracious. She actually said she was sorry I had been through this. She was on holiday with her sister so I gave her my email and said I was happy to speak to her or the police about what I’d been through.
“I’m divorced, I’ve been through it. I was so mad he had made me a part of this. I would never knowingly do that to another woman. The police were in touch a few days later.”
Police interviewed Jilly as a witness but and after reviewing the couple’s communication, brought a charge against Hogg for a course of conduct which caused her fear or alarm between April 2023 and August 2024.
Prosecutors filed six charges against Hogg, spanning from January 2017 to July 2024 with one against Jilly between April 2023 and August this year. Hogg pled guilty at Selkirk Sheriff Court, in the Borders, to one single charge of abusing Gillian between 2019 and 2024.
He admitted shouting and swearing at his wife in an aggressive manner, and would accuse her of “not being fun” for staying upstairs with their children.
He bombarded her with more than 200 messages over the course of a couple of hours as well as monitoring her movements through a phone app after they had split up in 2023 and, at one point, caused her to have a panic attack. The couple are now divorcing.
Hogg will be sentenced next month. He’s also facing calls to be stripped of an MBE he received in this year’s New Year’s Honours for services to rugby union.
Jilly, who began a relationship with Hogg in 2020 while he played for Premiership rugby side Exeter Chiefs, believe’s his guilty plea came to avoid her witness testimony which would have revealed the reality of his life.
She added: “I was disappointed I didn’t get to share the truth of what Stuart did to me in court, because he is not the man he portrays himself to be. He doesn’t want the public to know the full extent of that.”
Hogg declined to comment. Leonna Mayor was approached for comment.
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