Rylan has shared insight into what he has learned about love as well as sharing his thoughts on embarking on a open relationships following his 2021 divorce from ex-husband Dan Neal.
The TV presenter, 36, split from the Big Brother contestant after six years of marriage when Rylan admitted he cheated on him, later confessing that the split and his actions had left him feeling a ‘complete failure’.
As well as posing for a stylish shoot the TV star told Hunger about the tools he had learned following his stints hosting dating show Dating Naked and relationship podcast How To Be In Love.
Rylan said he’d discovered how younger generations were ‘quite relaxed’ and could speak openly together no matter the topic, including the idea of numerous partners.
‘I grew up in a day and age where, if you were with someone and said, Oh he’s good looking, that was offensive. How dare you say that! But actually, now it’s not a problem to sit there and say someone is good looking’.
He continued: ‘If you want an open relationship, that’s up to you, I don’t want that, but [it’s great] to not be frightened to have those conversations with the person you’re choosing to spend your time with’.
Rylan, 36, has shared insight into what he has learned about love as well as sharing his thoughts on embarking on a open relationships following his 2021 divorce from Dan Neal
The TV presenter (L) split from the Big Brother contestant (R) in 2021 after six years of marriage when Rylan admitted he cheated on him (pictured together 2017)
Rylan also admitted that he’d never been able to understand how other people consider a partner their best friend, something he said would change for him in future relationships.
‘I thought, Well, my partner is not my best friend, my best friend is my best friend. I didn’t get it. But I’ve realised that your partner can be that. Telling them everything and not being frightened to say something to the person you’re choosing to share your life with is beautiful’.
It comes after he emotionally said he felt like a ‘failure’ following his divorce on what would have been their ten-year wedding anniversary.
Speaking on his new podcast Rylan: How to Be in Love with Stephen Fry, he said: ‘We got married in 2015.
That same year, yeah. So it would have been my 10 year anniversary this year.’
Stephen then asked if Rylan felt any kind of responsibility to represent gay marriage, as one of the few LGBTQ+ celebrities.
He asked: ‘But did you feel also that – when it broke up and you were divorced – did you feel that there was in some sense you were letting down the idea of gay marriage,’
‘Because we have a duty to show that our marriages are as robust and strong as any heterosexual?’
As well as posing for a stylish shoot he told Hunger about the tools he had learned following his stints hosting dating show Dating Naked and relationship podcast How To Be In Love
Rylan said he’d learned how younger generations were ‘quite relaxed’ and could speak openly together no matter the topic, including the idea of numerous partners
‘I grew up in a day and age where, if you were with someone and said, Oh he’s good looking, that was offensive. How dare you say that! But actually, now it’s not a problem’
![He continued: 'If you want an open relationship, that’s up to you, I don’t want that, but [it’s great] to not be frightened to have those conversations'](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/08/25/16/101527607-15032315-image-a-27_1756136126675.jpg "Rylan's Stylish Shoot: Lessons on Love and Open Relationships Post-Divorce 6")
He continued: ‘If you want an open relationship, that’s up to you, I don’t want that, but [it’s great] to not be frightened to have those conversations’
Rylan later admitted he’d previously never been able to understand how other people consider a partner their best friend, something that he said would change for him in future relationships (Pictured with Dan 2016)
Rylan said: ‘There was part of me that just felt like a complete and utter failure. I felt like I’d failed personally, but I felt like I’d found publicly on behalf of – the gays! You know, I’m not, I’m not ‘head gay’, it’s not that.’
Stephen reassured: ‘No, you’re not, exactly. You’re not a poster child for gayness.’
Rylan continued: ‘But you do feel like, yeah I’m going to get married, I want to get married, I can get married.
‘But when it doesn’t work out you don’t want people to go, “you see that’s why they f****** shouldn’t get married”.’
Stephen was quick to insist: ‘You can get married again if you want…’, causing Rylan to hint at his divorce struggles
It comes after Rylan emotionally admitted he felt like a ‘failure’ following his divorce and on what would have been their ten-year wedding anniversary
Rylan said: ‘There was part of me that just felt like a complete and utter failure. I felt like I’d failed personally, but I felt like I’d found publicly on behalf of – the gays!’
Following the heartbreak and the deterioration of his marriage, Rylan had suicidal thoughts and his weight dropped to just nine stone (Dan and Rylan pictured 2017)
As he quipped: ‘Yeah with a prenup this time, I’m not going through that again.’
Rylan previously revealed his own infidelity during his marriage with Dan caused the downfall of their relationship.
Read Rylan’s full interview in Hunger magazine out now
Following the heartbreak and the deterioration of his marriage, Rylan had suicidal thoughts and his weight dropped to just nine stone.
He opened up about these challenging times in his second autobiography, TEN: The Decade That Changed My Future.
In the book, he penned a candid reflection and said: ‘I got in a relationship quite young and just went with it. Now I know I’m my own person’.
`” I’m not going to settle for something that’s not right. In a way it’s been a bit of a gift.’
‘I’m happy to have sex with someone and that’s that, that’s not a problem. But do I want more? Of course I want more. Am I going to enjoy myself on the way? Abso-f***ing-lutely.’
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