Helen Skelton‘s divorce from rugby star ex Richie Myler has been ‘dragged out’ for over two years.
The former Strictly star has been rather quiet about their breakup, which began in April 2022, although she did express her’shock’ in her new autobiography.
Helen, 40, and her former Leeds Rhinos husband announced their separation barely four months after welcoming their third child together.
Richie, 33, welcomed a child with his new partner Stephanie Thirkill in August 2023, and legal paperwork to legally divorce were released shortly thereafter.
According to MailOnline, a source said the couple had formally split as of December.
They said: ‘Helen and Richie are legally divorced. Their marriage was declared over at the end of December, so finally both parties can move on and start the New Year afresh.’
According to sources close to Richie, Helen was ‘dragging her heels’, forcing him to wait for her signature on the court-approved order nisi indicating they may divorce.
This was alleged to be an attempt to postpone any proposal he intended to make to his fiancée, the daughter of Rhinos president Andrew Thirkill.
Previously, a source said the England rugby player was eager to move on with his life and was perplexed by the delay.
The pair had been married for nearly ten years when they announced the breakup in a statement that read: “Very sad to say that Richie and I are no longer a couple.”
‘He has left the family home. We will be doing our best to co-parent our small children.’
Together the couple have three children; Ernie, eight, Louis, six, and Elsie, two.
The couple’s comments on their breakup have been few and few between, however the Countryfile star did provide some insight in her memoirs.
In her book, In My Stride, Helen wrote: ‘I was in shock. I know that following break-ups, people often say they didn’t see it coming and it sounds like a cliché, but that was me.’
In retrospect, she admitted that job, children, and their house restoration project may have ‘consumed her’ and caused her to miss’signs’ that her marriage was failing.
Helen also considered that she may have just ‘ignored’ signs of the relationship collapsing.
Following the breakup, the TV presenter stepped down from anchoring her BBC Radio 5 programme on Sunday mornings, which she had taken over from former Love Island host Laura Whitmore.
Helen said: ‘I’m not all right about it but you know, needs must. The juggle is real. An eight-year-old with a sideline needs me.’
Source My Celebrity Life.