Coleen Nolan shared the reasons behind her split from EastEnders star Shane Richie as she admitted she “stayed longer” than she should have in her first marriage
TV star Coleen Nolan lifted the lid on her first divorce as she revealed the reason she says “I stayed longer than I should have”.
The Loose Women panellist, 60, has been married and divorced twice – most recently to musician Ray Fensome, who she split from in 2018. But her most famous relationship was with EastEnders actor Shane Richie.
The pair married in 1990 before separating in 1997 and divorcing two years later after allegations of infidelity.
Speaking about the divorce with the couple’s oldest son Shane, 37, on her YouTube channel, she admitted: “I think I stayed two years longer than I should have. Because of you and Jake. Because I had this real thing, I had this thing about ‘my kids are going to be from a broken home’.
“‘I’m Coleen Nolan and I’m divorced and I hated it. And it was mainly about you two and ‘I’ve got to stay, I’ve got to stay and work it out’ and eventually I had therapy.
“And she said to me: ‘But you’re going to bring two boys up to believe it’s OK to behave like that and their wife or girlfriend should put up with it.
“And as soon as I said that I went to the solicitors because I thought: ‘Oh I don’t want that either. I want them to know that if you treat people this way you’re going to lose them.”
As well as oldest son Shane, she shares another son, singer Jack Roche, 33, with her first husband.
Coleen went on to marry for a second time, tying the knot with Ray Fensome in 2007 before divorcing 11 years later. The pair had welcomed their daughter Ciara Fensome in 2001.
The TV presenter said that although she made the difficult decision to end her first marriage it worked out well as both kids stayed on good terms with both their parents.
She said: “It’s worked out great and it takes a lot of effort for it to work out great. I think it’s something you’ve got to put effort into when you’ve got children.”
Shane then added: “You could have easily used us as a weapon like a lot of men and women have in the past.”
Coleen agreed: “I didn’t do that because, seeing it happen with friends. I thought “if it ever does (happen to me), I’m never doing that.”
It comes after Coleen opened up on her new one-woman show called This Is Me which kicks off next month. The show will take audiences through Coleen’s life story.
Source: Mirror
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