Chantelle Houghton reveals she’s secretly split with fiancé Michael and piled on three stone
FORMER Celebrity Big Brother winner Chantelle Houghton has broken up with her fiancé.
Chantelle got engaged to property developer and alloy wheel repairer Michael Strutt last year after just a few months of dating.
But things did not work out between the pair and they have broken up.
“It was amicable and we are still very friendly. At the start of the year I moved out,” Chantelle told .
“With lockdown, I think a lot of people probably started relationships and we moved in together really quickly… I think that it put a lot of pressure on things and it just fizzled out.”
But the mum-of-one promises she's doing well after the shocking split.
"So it’s been a little while now and I’m in a really good, positive place," Chantelle revealed.
Thankfully, the couple had not got too far with their wedding planning because of Covid restrictions, which meant she had not even begun her dress shopping.
Most read in Celebrity
Chantelle got who had been engaged twice before, got engaged to Michael just months after meeting him, but has no regrets about moving quickly with him.
"I have no regrets about anything, I had a lovely time with Michael. Sometimes things just don’t work out and you can’t stay in an unhappy relationship," she said.
"I think sometimes you just have to go with things if it feels right. We’re not alive for a long time, so it would be sad to put someone off just because of past failed relationships."
But the experience has not put her off finding love again.
"When I love, I love hard. If I meet someone, I meet someone, but if I don’t, I don’t," Chantelle explained.
"But now, if there’s one red flag, I’m running. I know what I want and I won’t settle for anything less – but I still believe in love."
Along with a breakup, Chantelle also put on three stone during lockdown and she's now "the heaviest I’ve ever been.”
The TV star has set her sights on a healthy eating plan as she describes the toll her weight gain took on her confidence.
"We started eating a lot of takeaways as it wasn’t always easy going to the supermarket – and being at home I was much less active," Chantelle revealed.
"So I’ve started working with MuscleFood on a healthy eating plan, which is a positive thing for me to concentrate on."
She started wearing baggy clothes and even stopped going to big social events.
"The weight mainly went on my tummy, so many people were congratulating me for being pregnant," Chantelle said.
Now the star enjoys working out by swimming, using the cross trainer and step machine.
Another unexpected turn her life took during the Covid pandemic was when she took on a job as an independent consultant for The Body Shop.
Chantelle, who took a step back from fame after having her daughter eight years ago, joined The Body Shop in September last year.
She worked her way up to Area Manager within four weeks and sold her products through social media.
The Body Shop at Home is a multi level marketing platform, with home sellers earning up to 30 per cent commission.
But she's now ditched that job as the world has started to open up again.
"The Body Shop products are still amazing and I’d recommend them to anyone but when I started as a consultant it was purely because I was so bored in lockdown," Chantelle explained.
"The whole celebrity world had shut down and there wasn’t much work, so it was a good way to keep mentally active. Now things have picked up again, I’m not working with them any more."
Chantelle rose to fame for being a normal girl thrust into Celebrity Big Brother aged 22, as part of a fictional girl band called Kandy Floss.
She went on to win the January 2006 series of CBB and bagged a boyfriend, Ordinary Boys frontman Samuel Preston, in the process.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
The couple were engaged by April, married in August and separated the following June – with Chantelle by then a celeb in her own right.
She has daughter Dolly with ex and fellow CBB winner Alex Reid.
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun Showbiz team?
Email [email protected] or call us direct on 02077824220 .
We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.