Lottie Tomlinson has admitted her relationship with her fiancé Lewis Burton ‘never began as a fairy tale’ after the pair began dating in the months following Caroline Flack’s death.
The social media influencer, 26, began officially dating the former tennis player, 32, in August 2020 and the pair are now engaged and share two children Lucky, two, and Flossy, one month.
However the early days of their relationship were not easy as they met in the wake of the TV presenters tragic death.
Caroline died by suicide in her London home, days before she was due to face trial for assaulting Lewis, who she had been in a relationship with for just over six months.
Writing in her biography Lucky Girl, Lottie opened up about how she and Lewis formed their relationship in the early days as she admitted it didn’t begin in the ‘traditional way’.
The pair first met in a club where Lottie revealed they had a ‘brief chat and that was it, but I immediately thought he was handsome and knew that I fancied him straight away.’
Lottie Tomlinson has admitted her relationship with Lewis Burton ‘never began as a fairy tale’ as she described how the pair ‘instantly related’ after growing close in the months following Caroline Flack’s death (pictured in November 2023)
Lottie, 26, and Lewis, 32, were officially dating by August 2020, just six months after Caroline died by suicide in her London home, days before she was due to face trial for assaulting Lewis
The pair then met again ‘properly through mutual friends.’ She writes: ‘Lewis and I instantly related to each other. We were going through similar situations as he’d recently experienced a tragic loss, and it felt natural to want to help him’.
It has been reported this meeting was at house party in May 2020 hosted by Lou Teasedale, who was a close friend of Caroline’s as well as a friend of Lottie after they met while working on the X Factor.
Lottie then explained that it was months of back and forth before they officially began dating that summer.
She explained: ‘Us coming together never began as a fairy tale. We focused on building a friendship first, and were there for each other through our shared experiences, but we also couldn’t deny that we were attracted to each other.’
Admitting the pair even considered calling it quits at times she continued: ‘Because of the difficulty of Lewis’ personal situation when we were first getting to know each other, the pressure would get to us.
‘In fact, we had a few conversations around how much easier it would be to go our separate ways.’
‘Every time we agreed not to speak to each other anymore, that magnetism between us always brought us back together. We couldn’t keep away from each other, and in the end, we thought, let’s just be together and make a go of it.’
At the time Lottie and Lewis faced criticism for their relationship after a source exclusively told MailOnline in July of that year: ‘They have been meeting up in secret for weeks but their newfound friendship hasn’t gone unnoticed by mutual pals.
Lottie wrote in her book: ‘Us coming together never began as a fairy tale. We focused on building a friendship first, and were there for each other through our shared experiences, but we also couldn’t deny that we were attracted to each other’ (pictured with their son Lucky, two)
She admitted they even considered calling it quits: ‘Because of the difficulty of Lewis’ personal situation when we were first getting to know each other, the pressure would get to us’
It has been reported Lottie and Lewis met properly at house party in May 2020 hosted by Lou Teasedale, who was a close friend of Caroline’s (pictured together)
‘Not all of Caroline’s friends are happy with how the situation appears to be developing but can understand that both Lottie and Lewis have been there for each other as a shoulder to cry on.’
Friends say it’s been ‘incredibly difficult’ in particular for Caroline’s mother Christine to watch Lewis move on so publicly.
Acknowledging the difficult challenges of the beginning of their relationship, Lottie writes: ‘My relationship with Lewis never started off in a traditional way.
‘The beginning was never light and fun and happy, and our circumstances had us skipping the honeymoon stage and going straight into some hard times.’
Lottie and Lewis met in grave circumstances after it was c
onfirmed that Caroline took her own life after hearing she would definitely be prosecuted for assaulting her boyfriend, a coroner ruled.
Caroline was arrested in the December before her death for assault and charged with attacking Lewis at her home in Islington.
While Lewis dropped his assault complaint against Caroline, prosecutors pursued it and the couple were told not to have any contact.
Discussing how the circumstances meant they then had to work through their grief together Lottie writes in her book: ‘It made Lewis and I realise that we could deal with the big, scary things together, and we could deal with difficult emotions and feelings together, which only served to strengthen our bond.’
Publishing the book two years on from when the pair started dating after welcoming their first child and becoming engaged, she added: ‘By this point, it’s clear that we’re not in a show relationship and I think people can see that’.
The couple welcomed their second child, daughter Flossy, last month as they shared a black-and-white shot of Lucky peering into his newborn sister’s cot
The couple welcomed their second child, daughter Flossy, last month as they shared a black-and-white shot of Lucky peering into his newborn sister’s cot.
Lottie told Instagram followers: ‘Our little angel has arrived and she’s perfect in every way.’
The mother announced her second pregnancy in July by sharing a video of her growing baby bump with social media followers.
She wrote: ‘Our little family is growing we feel so excited and blessed that another beautiful baby is joining us in Jan 2025.’
Meanwhile Caroline’s mother Christine has openly declared on social media, that it was her daughter’s relationship with Lewis that ‘ended her life’.
It was a late-night explosive row between the two in 2019, after Caroline was said to have found text messages from another woman on his phone, that led to her hitting him with a lamp, being charged with assault – and ultimately resulted in her downward mental spiral and suicide on February 15, 2020.
Christine found Lewis’ new romance incredibly difficult to take and has long questioned whether the messages Caroline found on Lewis’s phone that night may have been from Lottie.
Referring to the text messages Caroline is said to have found on Lewis’s phone that night, her agent told the Mail: ‘It is not true at all, they hadn’t even met before at the time of the incident. Hope this clears that rumour up.’
