3 days ago
2 
Shaun Ryder has his fair share of crazy stories, but facing down an orangutan named Jack the Ripper might be one of his wildest.
The musician from Manchester has a new memoir coming out, on top of the two autobiographies that already exist.
He’s also putting pen to paper for a new Happy Mondays album – the first in 20 years.
Reflecting on his time recording the band’s fourth album in 1992, Shaun revealed how he came face-to-face with a dangerous orangutan on a beach in Barbados.
The 63-year-old told The Sun: ‘This thing just dropped out of the trees right in front of me. It was a f***ing big orangutan.’
There had apparently been reports locally warning people about the great ape, nicknamed Jack the Ripper, but Shaun was determined to fight him off.
He told himself ‘don’t show any fear’ and proceeded to growl at the animal: ‘Grrr, arrrgh, f*** off, just f*** right off.’
Shaun reports that this did the trick and he was left unscathed.
It’s worth noting that orangutans aren’t native to Barbados and Shaun was smoking ‘50 rocks of crack cocaine a day’ at the time – still, he is adamant it wasn’t a hallucination.
That fourth studio album wasn’t a hit for the band, and they split the following year.
Speaking to the publication, Shaun also shared stories which involved him getting held hostage for two days in Amsterdam, witnessing somebody get shot in the head, and narrowly escaping an arrest in a heroin house.
The Gogglebox star gave up the drugs when he was 40 and doesn’t have any booze in the house that he shares with his wife, Joanne, and their kids.
In an Instagram post two years ago, Shaun showed an outpouring of love for his wife, writing: ‘Happy Birthday to my amazing wife Joanne.
I really can’t put into words how much she means to me. You are the best – we love you loads.’
The Step On hitmaker credits her with helping him get sober.
Shaun and Joanne share two children, Pearl and Lulu, who Shaun jokes he ferries around like a ‘f***ing taxi service’.
He admits this wasn’t necessarily the case with the other four children he has from previous relationships. The singer says he didn’t see them much and wasn’t the best dad.
Current wife Joanne manages the TV side of his career, which has seen him on various reality shows.
With old bandmate Mark Berry, better known as Bez, Shaun appears regularly on Celebrity Gogglebox.
The Manchester icons presented an award at the Brits Awards together in their home city last month.
Shaun has been in the jungle twice with I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, in both Australia and South Africa.
Got a story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us [email protected], calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
Bengali (Bangladesh) · 
English (United States) ·