Dame Denise Lewis is feeling empowered and isn’t afraid to show off her new confidence to the world.
The 53-year-old mother-of-four has been navigating a tricky time in her personal life in recent months, announcing that her 17-year marriage to music mogul husband Steve Finan was over on Tuesday after they quietly separated two years ago.
But it seems she is embracing the huge life change and last month even declared she was ‘feeling sexier than ever’ while navigating the split as she posed for her first ever lingerie shoot and alluded to moving on to the ‘next chapter of her life’.
In a statement this week, she wrote of the separation: ‘After much thought and consideration, Steve and I decided to separate two years ago as a couple.
‘This decision was made with mutual respect and care for one another after many meaningful years together.’
Last year, The Mail on Sunday revealed Steve, who was the late Liam Payne’s manager for seven years, moved out of the family home in Buckinghamshire where the couple lived with their three sons.
Dame Denise Lewis is feeling empowered and isn’t afraid to show off her new confidence to the world after navigating a huge life change
The 53-year-old mother-of-four has been navigating a tricky time in her personal life in recent months, announcing that her 17-year marriage to music mogul husband Steve Finan was over on Tuesday after they quietly separated two years ago
One source told The Mail on Sunday: ‘It’s such a shame because they are both lovely people and were always thought of as a wonderful couple.
‘Despite trying to make it work, Steve and Denise just found themselves drifting apart from one another.
‘In the end they decided that breaking up was probably the most sensible thing to do.’
Notably the glamorous heptathlete, who is the President of UK Athletics, did not wear her wedding ring on air throughout her stint as a pundit for the BBC’s Olympic Games coverage in the summer of 2024.
While she was quietly navigating the split she embraced her empowered era, and last month revealed she felt ‘sexier than ever’ as she posed for her first lingerie shoot.
The Olympic gold medallist was the new face of Coco de Mer’s Icons collection and looked phenomenal as she modelled a selection of pieces from the line.
Denise – who retired from the heptathlon 20 years ago – proved she still has a passion for fitness as she showed off her enviably toned physique in a skimpy two piece.
Speaking about the shoot, Denise said: ‘Taking part in my first lingerie shoot in my fifties is a statement that confidence isn’t age-dependent and visibility is power.
But it seems she is embracing the huge life change and last month even declared she was ‘feeling sexier than ever’ while navigating the split recently
In a statement this week, she wrote of the separation: ‘After much thought and consideration, Steve and I decided to separate two years ago as a couple’
While she was quietly navigating the split she embraced her empowered era, and last month revealed she felt ‘sexier than ever’ as she posed for her first lingerie shoot
‘It feels more energising than I could have imagined.
‘The meaning of confidence has changed for me over time. It is about strength in my own skin – feeling strong, self-aware and sexier than ever as I move into the next chapter of my life.’
The mother-of-four continued: ‘I take care of my body not to smash world records anymore, but to feel powerful mentally as well as physically.
‘Being recognised by Coco de Mer as an Icon is humbling and proof that women in midlife aren’t fading, they’re rising – reclaiming our bodies, our stories, and our right to be seen as vibrant, sensual and unapologetically whole.’
Denise added in a chat with The Times: ‘It’s celebrating my body, because I’ve worked for it. To have a woman over 50 saying, ‘Actually, this is me. This is what I can be,’ is so liberating.
‘Hopefully, it encourages more women to feel they are more than the labels attached to them – working woman, mother. You can be these things and not lose the essence of who you are.’
Denise is mother to four children, having juggled her incredible sporting career with motherhood.
Denise – who retired from the heptathlon 20 years ago – proved she still has a passion for fitness as she showed off her enviably toned physique in a skimpy two piece
Last year, The Mail on Sunday revealed Steve, who was the late Liam Payne’s manager for seven years, moved out of the family home in Buckinghamshire (pictured in 2022)
In another interview with The Daily Mail in March she took a trip down memory lane as she looked back at the iconic black-and-white photograph of her taken shortly after she’d won gold in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
‘I’m such a different person to that young woman,’ she said of the image, which once hung in the National Portrait Gallery.
‘Even though I was at the height of my career, there’s been so much growth since. That image shows my body at its most powerful.
‘I still feel powerful, but in a different way. The strength comes from the journey. I’m 52 and I feel better than ever.’
She added: ‘Although it was my decision to retire from athletics, I was totally floored by losing that identity.
‘Everything was wrapped up in the body, the preparation, the daily routines. It’s taken until this point to… I don’t want to say ‘reinvent myself’, but I feel that I’m back.’
Denise’s full separation statement on Tuesday read: ‘After much thought and consideration, Steve and I decided to separate two years ago as a couple.
‘This decision was made with mutual respect and care for one another after many meaningful years together.
‘We remain grateful for the time we shared and the wonderful children created.
‘We value the kindness and support from our family and friends over the last two years and our priority moving forward is maintaining a positive co-parenting relationship and focusing on the wellbeing of those we care about most.
‘We appreciate your understanding for privacy during this time as we move forward.’
Denise first met Steve, the son of comedian Tom O’Connor, in 2000 through mutual friends at the Brit Awards when he was then a pop manager looking after Neneh Cherry, Madness and All Saints.
They met again after she split from the Belgian sprinter Patrick Stevens, the father of her daughter Lauryn, and began dating.
In 2017 to celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary, Denise wrote on Instagram: ‘Thank you to all my friends and family who have been there for us through the good and not so easy times, but the biggest thank you goes to my ‘Man of Steel’… it’s a good job you like a challenge.’
One year later, in an interview when Denise was pregnant with the couple’s third child, Steve said: ‘Denise is an amazing mum and she loves babies. I’ve told her she needs to open a birthing suite if she wants any more.’
They went on to welcome three sons: Ryan, 19, Kane, 16, and Troy, seven. Denise is also a proud mum to Lauryn, 22, with ex Patrick.
She won the gold medal in the heptathlon in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and a bronze in the same competition four years before in Atlanta
Denise was 46 when Troy was born. She admitted that ‘he was a huge surprise,’ telling ITV’s Lorraine Kelly: ‘We thought we were past going for another. I thought I was entering menopause and, lo and behold, there he was!’
She told the Daily Mail this year that the main difference between having a baby at 46 and one at 29 is the confidence to do it her way.
For instance, she insisted that her husband would sleep in a separate room and deal solely with the elder boys; she would focus on bonding with Troy and getting some rest and be back at work in two months.
‘I wanted a clear head. Good energy,’ she explained. ‘And it worked a treat.’
Denise is one of Britain’s most decorated athletes.
She won the gold medal in the heptathlon in the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and a bronze in the same competition four years before in Atlanta.
