Rachel Stevens has admitted she was left in ‘turmoil’ and questioned whether she was ‘doing the right thing’ when she filed for divorce from her ex-husband Alex Bourne.
The S Club 7 star, 46, split from Alex, 47, her husband of 12 years in 2022, after she fell for her professional Dancing On Ice partner Brendyn Hatfield, 37.
Rachel admitted that deciding to end her marriage was tough, however, she wanted to show her daughters Amelie and Minnie that happiness is all that matters.
She told The Mirror: ‘There were a lot of fears and lots of questioning… ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ I was in turmoil.’
She added: ‘The main thing was the children. It was a really hard time but I’m not someone who believes in staying in a relationship for the children.’
Rachel Stevens has admitted she was left in ‘turmoil’ and questioned whether she was ‘doing the right thing’ when she filed for divorce from her ex-husband Alex Bourne (pictured in 2017)
Rachel admitted that deciding to end her marriage was tough, however, she wanted to show her daughters Amelie and Minnie that happiness is all that matters (pictured on Lorraine last month)
The S Club 7 star, 46, split from Alex, 47, her husband of 12 years in 2022, after she fell for her professional Dancing On Ice partner Brendyn Hatfield, 37 (both pictured on the show in February 2022)
She also confessed that as parents they aimed to show their children how to be happy and how to love in life.
Claiming that it wasn’t ‘easy to navigate’ Rachel admitted: ‘It’s not easy to navigate, but it’s life. It’s showing kids there’s more than just getting married and having kids.’
When Rachel and the real estate mogul split, they were determined to follow in the footsteps of actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin by having an amicable divorce.
According to The Mirror, they wanted to put their kids at the heart of all their decisions and even went to therapy to discuss how to break the news to their girls.
Speaking at the Happy Place festival, Rachel said: ‘I remember the day so clearly… we were both so scared about telling them but we planned it.’
‘We were advised to do it in the morning when the kids weren’t tired. It’s something you muddle through but we were as planned as we could be.’
Rachel, who was worried about how the divorce would affect their children, wanted to reassure her kids and make them feel safe.
Claiming that she and Alex both wanted the same thing, she said: ‘It was all about them and making them feel we are there and we’re not going anywhere.’
She told The Mirror: ‘There were a lot of fears and lots of questioning… ‘Am I doing the right thing?’ I was in turmoil’ (Alex and Rachel pictured together in 2018)
She added: ‘The main thing was the children. It was a really hard time but I’m not someone who believes in staying in a relationship for the children’ (pictured on Lorraine last month)
The singer also admitted that they never speak badly of each other and despite what is going on between them, they try to keep as separate as they can.
She announced she had split from her childhood sweetheart, Alex, in July 2022, just one month shy of their 13-year anniversary.
Rachel then went official with skater Brandyn in November 2023 after first being paired together on the ITV show and striking up a friendship in early 2022.
The star previously revealed how falling for Brendyn led to her ‘messy’ split from Alex.
Speaking to The Sun she admitted: ‘[The split] was messy. I knew that we were growing, that I was growing apart, but I was in turmoil, because first of all my kids’.
Rachel went on to recall how she felt telling now ex-husband Alex about Brendyn admitting: ‘It was really scary because I knew as soon as I said that, that was it.’
Rachel and Brendyn were unfortunately among the first couples to be eliminated from the skating series, leaving the competition in Week 4, however, they didn’t allow that to sour their relationship.
A source said at the time: ‘Rachel had a really great friendship and partnership with Brendyn and it keeps developing…she wasn’t expecting to find love again at this stage in her life but she’s feeling positive about what’s to come and hopeful about a new start.’
It comes after she announced she had split from her childhood sweetheart, Alex, in July 2022, just one month shy of their 13-year anniversary
The star then went official with skater Brendyn (pictured) in November 2023 after first being paired together on the ITV show and striking up a friendship in early 2022
Announcing the news of her divorce Rachel wrote on Instagram: ‘I just wanted to share with you all that after time and consideration the difficult decision has been made for Alex and I to separate.’
‘While we are no longer partners in marriage, we will remain partners in parenthood to our beautiful girls and continue with love and respect for each other.’
‘I feel so incredibly grateful for the life we built together and will now continue to be focused on moving forward united as a family.’
Rachel and Alex, who were childhood sweethearts and met again in adulthood, married at Claridge’s in London in 2009.
The pair walked down the aisle to S Club 7’s hit Never Had A Dream Come True and her bandmates – Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole and Tina Barrett – were there to watch them say ‘I do’.
