This week Paul Hollywood confirmed he is dating Melissa Spalding, after splitting with Summer Monteys-Fullam earlier this year.
The Great British Bake Off judge’s relationship with barmaid Summer raised eyebrows after the pair began dating not long after Paul’s split with wife of 20 years Alex Hollywood.
But what is 53-year-old Paul’s dating history, as his love life is thrown back into the limelight with his latest relationship?
Melissa Spalding
The Bake Off judge, 53, is thought to have met Melissa, 36, in September after his split from barmaid Summer Monteys-Fullam, 24.
They sparked romance rumours when they holidayed at a five-star hotel in Cyprus in November – the same place where he married his now ex-wife Alexandra.
The couple reportedly spent Christmas Day together at the Chequers Inn in Smarden, Kent, where Melissa works.
While there were accusations Paul had begun seeing Melissa before the end of his relationship with Summer, a source told Metro.co.uk there is absolutely no crossover between the relationships.
‘Paul and Melissa have been dating since October, he split with Summer in July,’ they told us.
Summer Monteys-Fullam
Paul’s new relationship with Melissa comes after he was dumped by Summer in July following two years together because he asked her to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Following his split with wife Alexandra, Paul began dating Summer, 24, who was 22 and a barmaid in the pub Paul was hiring for a birthday party for his now ex-wife in 2017.
They began dating months later and moved into a luxury farmhouse together in Kent.
However, the two subsequently called it quits this year, with the 53-year-old drawing up a non-disclosure agreement banning the barmaid from discussing their sex lives, his wealth or their private lives.
The split turned bitter when Paul addressed the speculation surrounding their relationship, accusing his ex of ‘playing games’.
However, the barmaid denied his accusations, claiming the Great British Bake Off star tried to pressure her into signing a gagging agreement. She later took to Instagram to confirm she has ‘had no alternative but to instruct my solicitors Brett Wilson LLP to pursue legal proceedings against Paul’ and that she has been left ‘deeply disappointed that the relationship ended in this way’.
She later dropped the proceedings.
Alex Hollywood
Paul had met Alexandra in Cyprus in 1996, while the two were both working at a five-star hotel, where he was head baker and she was a scuba diving instructor, and quickly got engaged. They eventually got married in 1998, and welcomed their son Josh in 2001.
Paul and Alex first separated in 2013, after he admitted to an affair with his co-judge on The American Baking Competition, Marcela Valladolid, before they reconciled.
However in 2017 the couple confirmed they were to split again, saying: ‘It is with sadness that we have decided to separate.
‘Our focus continues to be the happiness of our son, and we would ask the press and public to allow us privacy as a family during this very difficult time.’
It was then when Paul embarked on a relationship with Summer, with his split with Alex turning ugly amid accusations she’d had a run-in with Paul’s girlfriend.
The food writer shares son Josh with her ex-husband and explained on a recent episode of Loose Women that she has been ‘Hollywood for nearly 20 years’ and had ‘grown into’ the surname, choosing not to go back to her maiden name.
‘I’m getting divorced but I’m not divorcing my son,’ she told the show. ‘I’m not going to get rid of my son. Women are kind of like Mr Benn when you go into a room and come out as something else. I’m not going to change
‘I write as Alex Hollywood, I am Josh Hollywood’s mum, that’s the person I am now, and that’s the person I’ve grown into and that’s how I’m going to stay.’
As the couple split, Alex claimed the TV host had been having extramarital affairs. He denied those claims but admitted to an affair in 2013 which led to them briefly splitting.
Marcela Valladolid
Paul and Alex briefly split in 2013 after it came to light that he had been having an affair with Marcela Valladolid, his co-star on the US version of the hit Channel 4 show GBBO.
He said at the time: ‘I did have an affair in America with my co-judge and it was the biggest mistake of my life because actually I still love my wife.’
As he worked through the controversy with Alex, he added to Radio 5 Live’s Richard Bacon: ‘We are talking, we are working to get back together again but it’s going to take time.
‘I don’t mind talking about it now, because I am asking the press to give us privacy because that’s exactly what we need at the moment’.
He added: ‘I was shocked about the whole thing kicking off the way it did… but I deserved it and I’ve taken it. It was my punishment.’
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