Karen Hauer has opened up about her her friendship with her ex-husband Kevin Clifton's girlfriend, Stacey Dooley. The Venezuelan dancer got to know Stacey when the journalist competed in the 2018 series of Strictly when she was partnered with Kevin, and the two ladies were even reunited for the Strictly live tour earlier this year. Speaking to Closer magazine, Karen, who is happily dating opera singer David Webb, gushed: "I’ve just toured with Stacey and I love her to bits. We get on very well. It won’t be weird to see us all hanging out together as couples."
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Karen also explained about her split from Kevin: "The year we broke up was traumatic and heartbreaking. It was a shock for us both, but I think it was something that was a long time coming and we ignored the signs. We both had different schedules, long working days, and we just didn’t see each other very much."
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Karen and David
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The TV star, who is 37 and joined BBC's hit dance show in 2012, married Kevin in 2015. The pair went their separate ways in 2018. Karen continued: "When I look back, I don’t think we were ready for marriage. We were still growing as performers, as people, as lovers, and sometimes you just can’t find the right way to fix things."
She concluded: "I admire and respect Kevin and I know he feels the same about me. He will always be my friend. My separation from Kevin led me to a path of prioritising myself and sorting myself out and making changes. I used to think I had to be the perfect girl with the perfect hair and always smile. Now I feel grounded and comfortable with who I am."
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