Una Healy reveals her heart has healed after husband Ben Foden cheated on her and says she’s ready to find love again
UNA HEALY’S turbulent love life threw her back into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons when husband Ben Foden cheated on her after ten years together.
Their break-up was made all the worse when the former England rugby union star remarried almost a year to the day after their split, having known his new wife for just two weeks.
But now, after a tough few years, former Saturdays singer Una is back in the studio and poised to relaunch her career — and reignite her love life.
In an exclusive interview, she describes the torment of trying to find love after a messy break-up, which included men on dating apps accusing her of pretending to be Una.
But despite everything her ex-husband put her through, she insists she won’t condemn him for the sake of their children, despite revealing that he never properly said sorry for his fling.
Una, 39, said: “I think he did, but I can’t remember a specific time that he would have. It wasn’t one big ultimate (apology).
“He has over the years said sorry, but he’s not made one massive one.
“I’ve never spoken badly of Ben and I wouldn’t. I don’t think it’s appropriate to do that, especially as he’s the father of my two children and I would never want to ruin any future relationship they have with him or paint him in a bad light.
QUALITY TIME
“I’m only too happy for him to see them as and when he can, so regardless of our relationship, I just want as healthy a relationship as possible for him and the kids when he does see them.
“He’s well capable of getting on with his own life anyway. He’s moved on and he seems very happy, so good luck to him.”
The couple married in 2012 after four years of dating and soon had daughter Aoife, eight, and son Tadhg, six.
Ben, 35, is now living in the US with his new wife Jackie Belanoff Smith.
They wed a fortnight after meeting in August 2019 and in May last year had a daughter together.
Una continued: “He’s very far away and he’s married now with his own family. He doesn’t see them (Aoife and Tadhg) often but when he does, he spends quality time with them, like he did at Christmas and last summer.
“It’ll be three years this summer since we split, so I have had the time to heal from all of that.
“The past year for everybody has been getting used to a new normal, but for me, the year before that was getting used to my new normal.
“I’ve had quite a bit of time to recover from it all. It was traumatic, the whole thing, it really was.
“But I am actually very happy right now. This is me now and you have to get used to your new life and I couldn’t be at a better place than at home in Ireland with my family. That’s just how it is.
“The kids have everything they need, they have all the love in the world that they need right now and they love it here, so that’s the most important thing.”
Una has knuckled down to work on her music, and today returns with new single Swear It All Again, which is steeped in heartache.
In a telling description of the song, which has a Sheryl Crow-style country sound, she said: “It’s all about the kind of relationship you know is doomed but you will give it another go.
“It’s all you have at the time so you just keep going with it.
“Ultimately, you know it’s not going to work and I’m sure a lot of people have been in that. It’s hard to walk away from a relationship when you do love someone.
“You give it another go and lots of chances. I think everybody deserves a second chance anyway. We all make mistakes, so it’s nice to know that you can give it another go.
“But it gets to that point where it’s like, ‘We’ve given it so many goes now and this is just not working’. Then you have to leave it. That’s what the song is about.”
After moving back to her native Ireland last summer following 12 years in London, Una finally feels ready to get back in the dating game. But she revealed she has been accused of being a “catfish” — a person who pretends to be someone else online.
She said: “I know a couple of people who have been on the apps and they’ve been messaged and told me, ‘A catfish is on, pretending to be you’, and it’s like, ‘That is me’.
“There’s a danger of that. People just don’t believe you might be on there.
"But that’s just what everyone’s doing now, isn’t it? That’s how people are meeting and chatting to each other.”
For Una, another obstacle to finding love has been lockdown.
She said: “It’s so hard. There’s no dating to be done right now. It’s the worst time to be single.
“Going on an app, I tried that a few months ago and I just found it really pointless because you can’t meet people. You need to meet someone.
“A lot of this back-and-forth of messages, or even a video call, it’s not the same. You need to meet that person face to face to know how you feel. So it’s a bit of a waste of time.
“By summer I’ll be able to get out again and that will be nice, because after a few messages, exchanges and calls, you need to meet up and have a coffee or walk or something.
“Otherwise you build them up in your head to be someone they’re not when you meet them. The chemistry might not be there.”
IMPRESSIVE SHAPE
Months after her split from Ben, Una began a year-long relationship with Limerick pro hurler David Breen, but they split at the beginning of last year.
Now, after a year as a single woman, she is determined to find love again and said: “I wouldn’t say I wouldn’t date a celebrity or someone in a normal job, or whatever normal is. What I do is normal for me.
“As long as they’re a nice person, that’s all I’m looking for — a decent, kind, caring and hardworking person. It doesn’t matter what they do.”
She is in impressive shape too, regularly sharing snaps of herself on Instagram as she works out.
She said: “I find it really helpful in these times to just keep fit. You get the physical benefits from it when you start toning up.
“I’m looking forward to getting back out in the summer now and wearing some nice little dresses again instead of loungewear, which we’ve all been guilty of wearing and enjoying over the past few months.”
Perhaps that would also make it the perfect time to do Strictly Come Dancing, even though she said in 2017 that it was not for her — or even I’m A Celebrity?
Una’s bandmates Frankie Bridge and Mollie King have both been on Strictly and she said: “I always loved watching the girls do Strictly.
"I thought it was amazing. I love watching that show and that’s the same with the jungle, or the castle, or whatever they call it now.
“The time was never appropriate for me over the past couple of years but I’d be willing to give that a go at some point, definitely.
“It’s not like I haven’t done them because I wouldn’t, it just wasn’t the right time. So maybe it would be a good challenge for the future.”
'The reunion WILL happen'
UNA insists The Saturdays will reform and is convinced her bandmates will be won over to do it when boyband JLS reunite for their comeback tour this summer.
She and the band had a string of hit singles before splitting in 2014 and fans have speculated they could return in 2022 to mark 15 years since they formed.
Una was in the group with Mollie King, Frankie Bridge, Vanessa White and Rochelle Humes – whose husband Marvin is in JLS.
Una said: “We’ll probably go to the show with Rochelle and watch JLS and I guess that we’ll get quite nostalgic while we’re there and might have a chat then.
“More than one of us has said, ‘Wouldn’t it be lovely to do something again?’ and I reckon it will happen.
“I would love to do something with the girls again, so we will see.
“I hope so while we are still fresh and young. I think it would be nice to do it sooner rather than later.
“We have some great songs. Someone sent me a link to a megamix the other day and is it bad to say I was fangirling to it myself?
“I actually love that music, it’s so uplifting. I would love to get back out there.”
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For now, Una is simply looking forward to her life restarting once lockdown ends, with plans to book a tour as soon as that is allowed. And she has high hopes for her solo music, especially when it comes to writing about a happier subject.
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She said: “I’ve got a lot of songs that I haven’t released but I’m looking forward to writing some new material as well. I’ve lots of new ideas and feelings I want to explore.
“Actually, it’s my goal: To write some nice, happy love songs.”
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