Xtreme Vogue London Desk: Sarah Marshal
Rachel Stevens is reportedly dating her former Dancing On Ice partner Brendyn Hatfield.
The S Club 7 star, 45, appeared on the ITV show with professional skater Brendyn, 37, last year and a source has now told the pair are ‘smitten’.
It comes after singer Rachel announced she’d split from her husband of 12 years, Alex Bourne, in July last year.
Meanwhile, Brendyn is also separated from his wife, fellow professional skater Jessica.
New love? Rachel Stevens, 45, is reportedly dating her former Dancing On Ice partner Brendyn Hatfield, 37 (Rachel and Brendyn pictured on Dancing On Ice in January last year)
End of the road: It comes after singer Rachel announced she’d split from her husband of 12 years, Alex Bourne, in July last year (Rachel and Alex pictured in 2011)
‘They’re really smitten and looking forward to the future.
‘She wasn’t expecting to find love again at this stage in her life but she’s feeling postive about what’s to come and hopeful about a new start.
‘She is taking each day as it comes and focusing on upcoming career projects.’
Heart FM host Rachel and Brendyn first met when they started training for Dancing On Ice in November 2021.
They struck up a friendship but became the third couple to be voted out of the competition in January last year.
Just a few months later, Rachel announced her split from her childhood sweetheart Alex, just a month before their 13th wedding anniversary.
She moved out of the family home they shared earlier this year and the former couple are focusing on raising daughters Amelie, 12, and Minnie, nine.
Exes: Brendyn is married to fellow professional skater Jessica (pictured) who was a reserve dancer for the 2020 series of Dancing On Ice. They split two years ago
The source added to the paper that Rachel and Alex are on good terms and are ‘co-parenting their two daughters’, with the pair successfully communicating as they work through their marriage break-up.
They insisted Rachel and Alex have a lot of ‘love and respect’ for one another.
Brendyn is married to fellow professional skater Jessica who was a reserve dancer for the 2020 series of Dancing On Ice.
They split two years ago and she moved back to America where she has been working as a nurse and performing in the Disney On Ice tour.
The source said the couple were ‘still friends’ but have not been in a relationship for a ‘long time’.
Pop star Rachel took to her Instagram Stories last July to let her fans know of the sad news that she had split from her husband Alex
She wrote at the time: ‘I just wanted to share with you all that after time and consideration the difficult decision has been made for Alex and I to separate.
‘While we are no longer partners in marriage, we will remain partners in parenthood to our beautiful girls and continue with love and respect for each other.
Change: Rachel took to her Instagram Stories to let her fans know she had split from Alex in July last year
Sweethearts: Rachel and Alex were childhood sweethearts after they briefly went out with each other at the age of 12 having met at a youth club
Family: Rachel and Alex later share daughters Amelie, 12, and Minnie, nine, together (both pictured)
‘I feel so incredibly grateful for the life we built together and will now continue to be focused on moving forward united as a family.’
Rachel and Alex, who were childhood sweethearts, married at Claridge’s in London in 2009.
The pair walked down the aisle to S Club 7’s hit Never Had A Dream Come True and her bandmates – Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett and the late Paul Cattermole – were there to watch them say ‘I do’.
Rachel previously spoke out about re-meeting her childhood sweetheart, Alex.
She discussed her defining life moments as she recalled ‘randomly’ bumping into her former boyfriend repeatedly.
Rachel detailed how it was ‘like they were being pulled back to each other’ on Roxie Nafousi’s The Moments That Made Me podcast.
She said: ‘We were childhood sweethearts. We went out with each other when we were 12, we met at youth club and I was besotted with him!
‘We went out for probably about four weeks and when you’re that age that was a really long time!’
The blonde beauty explained how the pair used to be in the same social groups growing up together in North London.
Detailing their love story, she continued: ‘We then went on dates again when we were like 16 and then again when we were 18 and then we parted ways, you know, obviously I went off and did my thing he went off and did his thing.
‘Years and years later, I was in Selfridges randomly and he walked in and we bumped into each other.
‘We were both in our late 20s and weirdly he said as he was walking in, I know I’m going to see you, he knew he was going to see me…’
Unfortunately, the timing was off for the pair as Rachel had just come out of a long term relationship and Alex had a girlfriend at the time.
She explained: ‘It was just lovely to see him as an old friend and from that moment on we kept randomly bumping into each other.
‘His relationship with his girlfriend ended and then I went off to LA and he was an actor at the time so he came out to LA, too.
‘Then we rekindled our relationship again!
‘So, it was quite a random meeting and then just sort of randomly bumping into each other it was like we were being pulled back to each other.’
Fame game: Rachel found success with pop group S Club 7 (clockwise L-R Rachel, the late Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett, Bradley McIntosh, Hanah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara) (pictured in 1999)
Rachel admitted that after rekindling their romance, she knew that Alex was ‘the one’ but said they took their relationship slowly, adding ‘the rest is history’.
Actress Rachel previously dated former Hollyoaks actor Jeremy Edwards.
He proposed to Rachel on Valentine’s Day in 2002, with the couple going on their first date 18 months earlier.
The couple never married and they split in 2004.
