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Tess and Vernon: Marriage Over After Paradise Trip

Could Tess Daly and Vernon Kay's sun-soaked trip to the Caribbean just three weeks ago have been the last chance to save their 23-year marriage? The couple anno...

Bintano News

May 9, 2026

Could and 's sun-soaked trip to the Caribbean just three weeks ago have been the last chance to save their 23-year marriage?

The couple announced their separation on Friday, admitting they had agonised over the decision, but were determined to continue to be supportive parents to their daughters Phoebe, 21, and Amber, 16.

Despite both jetting off to the island paradise, Tess, 57, and Vernon, 52, avoided .

They opted instead to pose alongside their eldest daughter Phoebe who had also joined them on the luxurious trip to promote Tess' Naia Beach swimwear brand.

Gone were the couple's once beaming selfies with Tess choosing bizarrely to only show the back of Vernon's head as he sat on the beach before heading into the sea.

In his update, Vernon had captioned: 'Very grateful for a knockout week in the sunshine…And proud to be rocking men’s swim shorts.

Could Tess Daly and Vernon Kay's sun-soaked trip to the Caribbean just three weeks ago have been the last chance to save their 23-year marriage?

The couple announced their separation on Friday, admitting they had agonised over the decision, but were determined to continue to be supportive parents to their daughters

'I am biased as they’re a Tess Daly design, but they are the comfiest shorts I’ve ever drank rum punch in!! (And swam in of course!!).'

But although he praised his wife on her design skills, he still failed to share any snaps of her from the getaway.

In a joint announcement, the former Come Dancing host and Radio DJ said they had reached a mutual agreement to go their separate ways, though friends of the couple said they were both still at their marital home in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, yesterday.

The couple wrote: ‘After much consideration, and with a deep sense of care and respect for one another, we have made the decision to separate amicably.

‘This has not been an easy choice, but it comes from a place of mutual understanding and a shared desire of what is best for both of us. We remain great friends and, most importantly, fully committed to our roles as loving and supportive parents, which will always be our priority.

‘There are no other parties involved in this decision. We kindly ask for privacy during this time. We will not be making any further public comments.’

But while it may have come as a surprise to outsiders, sources close to Tess and Vernon say they have spent a ‘significant’ amount of time coming to the decision and their daughters were ‘completely involved’ in the conversations.

‘Tess and Vernon are actually really, really happy now,’ a friend told Daily Mails' Katie Hind.

Despite both jetting off to the island paradise, Tess, 57, and Vernon, 52, avoided sharing snaps of each other on their social media pages

They opted instead to pose alongside their eldest daughter Phoebe who had also joined them on the luxurious trip to promote Tess' Naia Beach swimwear brand

Gone were the couple's once beaming selfies with Tess choosing bizarrely to only show the back of Vernon's head as he sat on the beach

Vernon and Phoebe later headed into the sea

In a heartbreaking statement, the two revealed they had decided to split after 'much consideration, and a deep sense of care and respect for one another'

But while it may have come as a surprise to outsiders, sources close to Tess and Vernon say they have spent a ‘significant’ amount of time coming to the decision' Pictured 2024

Newlyweds Tess Daly and Vernon Kay leave St Mary's Church, Horwich, Bolton on their wedding day

The source added to Closer magazine: 'She has been working since her teens and never really got to do all the travelling. She feels she's missed out even though she knows how lucky she is.

'Vernon says they couldn’t really do a whole year as he has his Radio 2 show, but he likes the idea of jetting off for weeks at a time, then coming home.'

The couple began dating back in the early 2000s when Tess hosted children’s show SMTV and Vernon was a model trying to make it as a television presenter.

They were widely regarded as a bubbly, carefree pairing – when they married at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Horwich, near Bolton where Vernon grew up, they had a VW camper van as a wedding car.

They have been regarded as one of the strongest marriages in showbusiness, despite Vernon being caught ‘sexting’ Page 3 model Rhian Sugden in 2010.

Tess was devastated when she learned that Vernon had been messaging Rhian, 39, after meeting in a Bolton nightclub.

While they didn’t have a sexual relationship, a distraught Tess battled to save their marriage and eventually forgave him.

Rhian later spoke about the scandal in Channel 4 documentary Page Three: The Naked Truth. She said: ‘He just got away with it. It ruined everything for me. I felt like I was going up and up with my career and then that came along. I wish I’d never met him. He got to give an apology on the radio and just got to carry on, with Family Fortunes, ironically. It still makes me feel sick.’

Their split comes after reports they were 'entering a new chapter in their marriage' after she quit her Strictly Come Dancing hosting job after 21 years

Phoebe recently moved to New York to pursue a career in modelling, however upon her return to the UK has appeared to only spend time with her parents separately

She headed to the park with mum Tess before heading for rooftop drinks with dad Vernon

Vernon also admitted to sending flirty messages to ‘four or five girls’ during the same period.

‘I’ve let down my wife Tess. I’m an idiot,’ he confessed on-air. ‘I’ve been stupid and daft but I’m not a sex pest.’ Vernon’s extra-marital activities didn’t only devastate Tess but also saw his career take a nose dive. Once the golden boy of ITV, he lost his job hosting Family Fortunes and struggled to get high profile, lucrative work.

Their split comes just five months after Tess hosted her last ever Strictly, which she had fronted with the late Sir Bruce Forsyth since it launched in 2004.

Even during the last series, Vernon was a regular at Elstree Studios, where the programme is made, to support his wife. A friend of Tess’s said: ‘It’s all changed for her within six or seven months. She’s happy.’

Last month opened up about his family's 'changing' dynamic while insisting he and Tess' daughters will never be pampered .

He said he and his now ex-wife have always instilled a strong work ethic in their daughters, encouraging them to 'go out and graft'.

'Now that Phoebe is 21 and Amber is nearly 17, our relationship with them is changing. We talk about encouraging them to leave the nest and be independent but we don’t really want them to'.

He went on to reveal that the couple fear for their children, remembering the terror of drink spiking when Phoebe was old enough to go clubbing.

'You have to learn to enter their world and that world has pitfalls that just didn’t exist for us'.

Tess and Vernon: Marriage Over After Paradise Trip

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