Louise Redknapp says she regrets not fighting harder to save her marriage with ex-footballer Jamie.
The pair ended their relationship in 2017, bringing their marriage of almost two decades to a close.
Former Eternal singer Louise and ex- Liverpool player Jamie were often seen as one of the hottest celeb power couples.
More than three years after their marriage came to a conclusion, Louise has opened up on the difficulties she experienced following the end of their relationship, reports the Mirror.
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She told You Magazine the she even contemplated “stepping in front of a bus” when the marriage ended.
“I didn’t want to lose too much of a good feeling”, she said.
“Before anyone could stop me, I just ran as fast as the wind would take me. I never once looked behind, until maybe too late.
“I should have paused for a minute and thought about other people and had just a bit more time to work out why I felt I couldn’t do it anymore.”
She went on to praise fans for their support to get her through the darkest times.
Writing on Instagram, Louise said: “It is very difficult opening up as there is so much judgement, lack of compassion and nasty comments in the world today but the one thing I’ve learnt over the last few years is that kindness really can go a long way!
“So to all of you that have reached out to me today thank you I will reply yo as many of you as I can… you’ve all got this! Love Lou xxx.”
Right from the start of their relationship, Louise and Jamie seemed like the perfect showbiz couple.
She was a hugely successful popstar when they met, he a talented Premier League footballer.
The loved up couple tied the knot when Louise was just 23.
Instead of a glitzy celeb bash, they opted for a quiet ceremony while on holiday in Bermuda in 1998.
Heartbreak followed for Louise and Jamie as they struggled to get pregnant.
Louise was diagnosed with the painful condition endometriosis, which makes it difficut to conceive, just a year into their marriage.
But six years after they wed, Jamie and former Eternal singer Louise welcomed their first son, Charley.
It was the happy ending to a four year battle to become parents and the couple were overjoyed when their youngest son, Beau, completed their family in 2009.
When Jamie retired from professional football, he carved out a successful career as a presenter and pundit.
Meanwhile, Louise devoted her time to caring for their young family, having turned her back on the celebrity lifestyle.
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Jamie and Louise looked like they had one of the strongest marriages in showbiz.
But then, in 2016, Louise joined the Strictly Come Dancing line-up, where she was partnered with Kevin Clifton.
The singer and her professional dance partner hit it off instantly and their chemistry and stunning moves on the dancefloor earned them a place in the final of the BBC competition.
Jamie’s pals, including James Corden, Freddie Flintoff and Jack Whitehall, relentlessly teased him about the so-called Strictly ‘curse’.
At the time Louise said: “I could see Jamie getting angrier and angrier with the jokes.”
But she insisted the couple laughed off any suggestion she would cheat.
In the early days of rehearsals, Louise – already mum to boys Beau and Charley – shared hopes that her partner might have some influence in extending the Redknapp brood.
Dubbing Kevin the ‘fertility king,’ Louise joked about the conspiracy that Kevin could lead to her and Jamie having a daughter as his last two partners – Frankie Bridge and Kellie Bright – fell pregnant shortly after the show.
“Maybe he’s the good luck charm I need to get that girl I really want,” Louise told The Sun.
“Jamie would love another baby, I’m not getting any younger so we’ll see what happens. But I’m in Strictly shape now so we’ll see.”
After years away from the spotlight, what the former Eternal singer did find in the competition was a new lease of confidence.
Louise hailed Strictly her ‘saviour’ and revelled in returning to the stage after 12 years of ‘doing the mum thing’ – with Kevin acting as a constant source of support.
As the competition heated up, Louise and Kevin grew even closer with the pair training for hours each day and wowing audiences with their routines every Saturday night.
And while both rubbish rumours of any spark between them, it didn’t stop the wagging tongues.
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Then, just months after she reached the finals of Strictly, Louise’s marriage to Jamie crumbled.
She admitted in an emotional interview that her appearance on the show had made her re-evaluate her entire life.
Louise said she had grown tired of being a “Stepford wife”, striving to always be the perfect wife and mum.
She added: “I wanted kids so much, I was happy to put everything on hold for them.”
But as Jamie’s media career had bloomed, Louise admitted she had struggled with his success and missed being a performer.
She said, “Standing by and watching Jamie become this entertainment star was pretty hard.
“I was proud of him, but there was part of me thinking, ‘that’s my world’.
“I could see the excitement he got out of it and I knew how that felt. But it wasn’t me feeling it anymore.”
And once she started Strictly, she felt ‘physically sick’ at the thought she’d never perform again.
Louise initially confirmed the couple were living apart in October and filed for divorce in December 2017.
And it was not the only chance Louise made. She relaunched her career, releasing new music and appearing in the West End.
Describing her decision to leave Jamie and restart her career as the “first selfish thing I’ve done”, she admitted that although nobody “understood”, she felt like she’s finally “come back to who I really am”.
Heartbreakingly, despite their close relationship on Strictly, Louise and Kevin no longer speak.
Louise and Kevin were last pictured together in December 2018, when the singer was invited to meet up with her former Strictly partner and his parents for the annual Clifton’s Dance Academy Annual Christmas Ball in Grimsby.
The Naked songstress said four months later: “I haven’t spoken to him for a long time.”
