Vanessa Feltz has sadly split from her husband-to-be Ben Ofoedu.
Breaking the news to The Sun, the This Morning star said she was “extremely sad” that things had come to and end with her partner of 16 years, Ben.
"I had thought it might take a bit longer before this came out, because it’s a lot to deal with — a shock like this takes some adjusting to — but I am extremely sad and disappointed that my 16-year relationship with Ben is over,” she told the publication.
“Who knew I’d be single at 60? However, ladies, it’s onwards and upwards and I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.”
It’s believed that Ben, who is one half of the band Phats & Smalls, has since moved out of their North London home.
Following the devastating news of the breakdown of their relationship, we look into their love story over the years and how they came to be…
2001
Vanessa meets now-close pal and Boyzone star Keith Duffy in the Celebrity Big Brother house.
Keith was already friends with Ben at the time, and teased Vanessa that the music star said he’d like to meet her.
Vanessa recalled in a previous interview with OK!: “[Keith] was in the very first Celebrity Big Brother and so was I way back in 2001.”
She went on to say of Keith’s link to Ben: “He said to you you'd really like to meet me and he said to me that I'd really like to meet you, but we were both in relationships at the time.”
2005
Ben and Vanessa finally meet through their mutual friend Keith at the OK! Christmas party.
Both of them were single by this point with Vanessa having split from her former husband Michael Kurer in 2000.
Recalling his first impression of Vanessa, Ben said of the TV star: “My first impression of you Feltzy was cheeky, very very cheeky and very very quick-witted.
“Apart from being beautiful and me actually fancying you, I just thought, 'Wow, I've got to stay on my toes here!' because you had an answer for absolutely everything. I think [I was] slightly intimidated, because I knew you were so quick-witted."
Following their meet-cute, Ben pulled all out the stops to court Vanessa – even wearing a kilt on one of their dates.
"She said, 'Oh, you can wear something really funky. Wear anything – even wear a kilt',” the Phats & Small star recalled to us.
“So I went out and bought a kilt to impress her. Then I walked out of my house when the car came to pick me up in this kilt. I think you said something like, 'I didn't actually think you were going to wear a kilt'."
2006
Ben went on to pop the question to Vanessa in December 2006 in Ireland.
Discussing the romantic way Ben asked her to be his wife, Vanessa told The Express: "There were dark red roses strewn all over the white linen bed and when I turned around, he had dropped to one knee and was holding an engagement ring."
It’s believed the pair initially planned on tying the knot the following year, but they remained engaged up until their recent split.
Vanessa told the Daily Mail in 2007, as per RTE: “We’re going to have a civil wedding because Ben is Nigerian so I don’t feel I can have a Jewish wedding.”
"We would have got married before now but we haven’t had time," she went on.
"We are both very busy so it has been a case of fitting it in. It’s time-consuming to organise a wedding."
2011
Ben shared his plans of marrying Vanessa and the pair’s hopes of adopting a child.
“We are hoping to get married at the end of the year and are also planning to adopt a baby,” he told the Daily Star.
“One of Vanessa's biggest regrets was that she didn't have any more children and I would love to be a dad so we are putting the plans in motion to adopt after our wedding.”
Ben went on to add: “Whether it will be from the UK or abroad we don't yet know. I'm Nigerian so I would like to adopt from Africa but I don't think we'll be turning into a British Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie just yet."
2020
Ben hinted while chatting to the Loose Women panel that he and Vanessa were finally set to wed 14 years after he popped the question.
Jane Moore asked the star: “Any sign of you two getting married yet, it's been about 35 years now hasn't it?"
“I think we'll be making an announcement very, very soon,” the musician replied, adding: “That's an exclusive for Loose Women.”
Ben further teased: “But I think we'll make an announcement very, very soon,” as he implied that their nuptials could be imminent.
2022
In an exclusive chat with OK!, Vanessa admitted that she was reluctant to wed her beau, who is 10 years her junior, because they were happy the way they were.
“We think it’s OK the way it is,” she said of her relationship with Ben.
"I do think ‘never say never’, but I certainly haven’t made any plans for a wedding and I think we’re quite happy this way."
Discussing her messy divorce from her ex husband Michael, Vanessa went on to say that their split “made me feel a bit damaged and reluctant to ever [marry] again”.
Ben echoed similar sentiments about not rushing to get hitched, adding: “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”
"I’m not saying we’ll be engaged for eternity, but whatever we’re doing seems to be working,” he went on.
2023
Vanessa confirmed in a statement to The Sun that she and Ben have gone their separate ways, noting that she’s “in good company” amid reports Kylie Minogue has split with her beau recently too.
“I hear that Kylie Minogue is single again, so I’m in good company,” she said. “If she wants to hit the town, hook me up.”
Their split came shortly after the radio host labelled her age gap with Ben as “annoying”.
“Don’t let anyone tell you the age gap doesn’t matter,” the mum-of-two said in a profile for The Sunday Times last month.
“It’s bloody annoying and it gets worse, especially as our relationship coincided with acres of the menopause, which started on my very first day presenting the Radio 2 breakfast show [in 2011] with a massive hot flush at 4am and is still going on.”
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