Relationships and break-ups are regular topics of conversation on Loose Women, but they have been particularly difficult to discuss for the likes of Denise Welch, Janet Street-Porter and more panellists.
Several of the Loose Women ladies have suffered heartbreaking splits behind closed doors, and have bravely opened up about the breakdown of their marriages. Jane Moore was the latest star to be comforted by her co-stars after she confirmed her split from her husband of 20 years, Gary Farrow in December 2022. From Jane's secret separation from her "best friend" Gary to the sweet reason Jane McDonald's late husband walked out of their marriage, read what the Loose Women hosts have said about their love lives…
Janet Street-Porter
Janet Street-Porter was married four times before finding love with Peter Spanton. First, she married Tim Street-Porter in 1967, but Janet admitted to having several affairs before they split in 1975. She was later married to publisher Tony Elliot from 1975-1977, Frank Cvitanovich from 1977 to 1981, and David Sorkin from 1997 to 1999.
Speaking about the end of her first marriage, Janet told The Independent that Tim confronted her about her affair with Tony Elliott after she went on a weekend away with him to the Forest of Dean. "He told me if I got my stuff and got in the car with him within ten minutes, he'd drive us back to London and it would be OK - he'd never discuss tonight or Tony and me again."
While Tim waited in the car, she said: "I spent the next 15 minutes ranting about the general unfairness of time limits, how I needed longer to think about the situation."
She added: "In my fury I suddenly heard the roar of the Porsche. Tim was gone. I'd blown it. My marriage was definitely over this time."
Jane Moore
Jane married Gary in 2002, but she made the announcement that their relationship had ended live on Loose Women in December. She explained that she will continue to live with her "best friend" Gary and their kids Ellie, Grace and Lauren for the rest of 2022, but they plan to sell the family home and purchase separate properties "near each other" in 2023.
The separation did not come out of the blue, Jane explained. "We've been processing it for about a year. So we're both quite private people. We had discussed it last year," she said. Lightening the mood, Jane joked: "And then he fell and broke his leg and, no, I didn't push him. Just want to put that out there. He fell and broke his leg. And obviously, then all bets are off."
On a more serious note, she added: "I would hope he would say I'm his best friend. And I'm keen we don't lose that element."
Denise Welch
Denise Welch has been married to her third husband Lincoln Townley since 2013, but she previously wed David Easter in 1983 before their split in 1988, and actor Tim Healy later that year, before they divorced in 2012.
She announced the end of her marriage with Tim on the TV show, telling the panel: "Tim and I separated some time ago. I'm not having an affair – we've been living our own lives for some time now. Tim and I feel a sense of relief that we don't have to hide this anymore. We've actually become better friends since we made the decision."
She later confessed they were both unfaithful, stating: "My husband and I both agree we held on far too long and we were making each other miserable and thankfully we’ve now got a great friendship. I genuinely used to think that being unfaithful wasn’t the worst thing you could do in a relationship. There were infidelities on both sides… which you girls know about."
Jane McDonald
Following two divorces, Jane McDonald found love with her late fiancé Ed Rothe, who sadly passed from lung cancer in 2021.
She was first married to a man named Paul for one year in 1987, before exchanging vows with her second husband, Henrik Brixen, while filming BBC show The Cruise.
However, her relationship with plumber Henrik came to an end due to her career. "Henrik tried his very, very best and he was brilliant at what he did, but he didn’t know the industry," Jane revealed to The Mirror back in 2018.
"We'd come to a point where Henrik had made quite a few enemies and he said, 'If I don’t leave you, you are never going to have a career.' And that is why I never talk about Henrik in a bad light at all because he was the one that walked out of the marriage to save my career."
Coleen Nolan
Coleen Nolan has been married twice: first to Shane Richie from 1990 to 1999, and secondly to Ray Fensome from 2007 to 2018.
She opened up about her ex-husband Shane being unfaithful during a chat on Loose Women and revealed she wished she had listened to her intuition.
"I kept making excuses, I kept thinking it was me. I was just turning into this person that I've never been before. I was checking receipts, checking phone bills, going to shops and going, 'What was actually bought with this receipt?'.
"I turned into this detective that I've never been and it was all true and I should have listened to my instincts at the beginning but your heart doesn't want to," the presenter said.
Following her split from her second husband, Coleen described the end of their relationship as "hellish" and admitted her marriage was "truly dead."
"Me and my husband Ray are divorcing. I wanted to tell you first as I can hardly sit here and keep dishing out advice if I'm not being totally straight about what is going on in my own life. I've got tears pouring down my face as I write this. It's hard to imagine that so much could have changed from that day when we married," she wrote in her agony aunt column for The Mirror.
She continued: "There is too much dividing me and Ray. We can't go back. And my future is going to be very different to the one I'd imagined back then. And I guess that's what makes me sad. But, slowly, as I come to terms with the reality of it all, it's making me excited too.
"As I've written a million times before – women who've tried everything to fix a marriage but still feel desperately unhappy, have to get out. We owe it to ourselves. And we also owe it to our kids to show them that everyone has a right to be happy."
Nadia Sawalha
Before tying the knot with her husband Mark Adderley, Nadia was married to record producer Justin Mildwater from 1992 until 1997. Just months after they separated, Justin, who was just 31 at the time, took his own life on Christmas day.
"My husband committed suicide after I’d left him and it’s been hard. I loved Justin very much. I just wasn’t in love with him anymore," she said in 2000. "My real agony is his family, who haven’t spoken to me since. They were very angry with me. It causes me terrible grief and it always will."
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