Rachel Riley has split from her husband Jamie Gilbert after just 16 months of marriage, according to reports. The Strictly Come Dancing star, 27, has left her millionaire hubby Jamie "devastated, distraught and stunned", a family friend has said. "He has no idea where this has come from. Rachel just told him they had grown apart," the source told The Sun.
The Countdown beauty, who was partnered with professional dancer Pasha Kovalev in this year’s Strictly series, shocked friends and family with the news of the break-up – which came less than a month after she was voted off the show. The split is said not to involve another party. Another source said: "They are separated. Rachel is away filming much of the time. Jamie's stuff is still at the house so he hasn’t technically moved out." Maths whizz Rachel met Jamie, 31, at Oxford University where the two studied. The uni sweethearts, who have a house together in Essex, dated for four years before a brief split in 2009.
They got back together when Jamie proposed to Rachel on her 25th birthday – a happy announcement that the mathematician made on an episode of Countdown – and married in a fairytale ceremony in August 2012 – seven years after they first got together. The source added: 'The whole family is very upset. They adore Rachel and everyone believed she and Jamie would start a family.' According to reports, those close to the couple feared for their relationship when maths graduate Rachel landed a job co-presenting Channel Five programme, The Gadget Show.
