After a year of speculation, Amanda Owen has finally opened up about her former romance with boyfriend Rob Davies, following her split from husband Clive.
The estranged couple starred in Our Yorkshire Farm, an ITV programme that followed their lives with their nine children on their farm, Ravenseat. In a candid new interview, the former couple discussed how fame affected their marriage and how they have each found love again.
Amanda's new beau was a close friend of both the Shepherdess and her ex-husband, but she revealed that Clive actually "suggested him as a match" for her following their divorce in 2022.
She told the MailOnline: "I never set out looking for another relationship. Rob [Davies] was a friend that Clive and I had both known for a long time. He put together the farm website and managed the digital side of the business, things we couldn’t do ourselves.
"What he offered was conversation rather than confrontation, and Clive knew about it from the very beginning – he actually suggested Rob and I would be a good match.
"At that point, a few years ago now, Clive was also seeing someone else and was openly dating. It wasn’t a secret; everyone around us knew, even the children."
Meanwhile, Clive added: "Rob had always been a good friend to us, and we’d known him a long time. They got together at a point when we had already separated, so I wasn’t shocked or horrified, and it was never an affair in my mind because I knew about it from the beginning.
"I was seeing other people, too, and no one came after me with their cameras and their negative stories, calling me a home-wrecker.
"So it's not right to blame Amanda, as no one could have tried harder than she did to keep our relationship going."
He continued: "I'm not overstating it when I say that the intensity of the scrutiny she has been subjected to nearly killed her."
During the interview, both Amanda and Clive explained that it was fame that eventually drove them apart. Due to its success, Amanda was frequently asked to speak at events, which caused Clive to become resentful.
He explained that he felt uncomfortable no longer being the breadwinner for the family, adding: "It was especially hard knowing that Amanda, who is a very beautiful woman, would be going out, all dressed up, to launches and events and meeting other people.
"I resented her success, including the fact that she got paid more for talking about sheep than I ever could for farming sheep. I was jealous and difficult to deal with."
"I was angry and drinking a lot of whisky. It was my way of coping, but it led to arguments, and as my behaviour worsened, it became too much for Amanda to bear."
Despite their divorce, the couple have remained amicable and even teased a "new TV adventure" together.
Amanda said: "This kind of relationship – where parents work together and ‘get on’ but are separated – is not so unusual nowadays. So we’re proud to share our new reality (in every sense of the word) on our next family TV adventure."