Rylan Clark is known for his beaming smile and infectious energy on our screens, but away from the cameras he faced a secret heartache. The TV personality has opened up about how the collapse of his marriage to Dan Neal affected him, with his mum even thinking he was “having a stroke” after he was left unable to eat or speak.
The pair, who’d been married for six years, went their separate ways in 2021 after Rylan revealed he’d been unfaithful, leading to what he called a “traumatic” divorce.
Since then, the former X Factor star, who is presenting this year’s Red Nose Day, has revealed that he’s dating again and is hopeful that his luck will change. From extreme weight loss and two heart failures, the Mirror takes a look at Rylan’s heartbreak…
Rylan first locked eyes with former police officer Dan while filming Big Brother‘s Bit on the Side. Big Brother contestant Dan was evicted in the sixth week of the series – with Ryan hosting his exit interview. Things moved quickly from there, and Rylan knew from the very beginning that there was something special between them.
When asked about the best kiss of his life in a 2019 interview with The Guardian, smitten Rylan replied: “The first one I had with my husband Dan in late 2013. I just knew.”
During this happier period in their relationship, Rylan also opened up to iNews about how Big Brother had given him both a career and a husband, reflecting: “I won Big Brother, I then got asked to host Big Brother’s Bit On The Side. It gave me a career. It then gave me my husband and gave me the life I have now. Without Big Brother, I don’t think any of this would have happened. It was the best apprenticeship I could have asked for.”
Their romance deepened into something more, and Dan proposed during a trip to Paris – and Rylan joyfully accepted. Expressing his surprise and excitement in his 2016 book The Life of Rylan, the star remembered that he’d responded with the less traditional response of “F**K OFF, C**T, C**T, YOU’RE A C**T “, before hitting his betrothed on the arm.
He added: “Seriously this is exactly as it happened. He didn’t know what to say and neither did I. I was just in so much shock… [He thought] ‘Am I on Ant and Dec? Is this a wind-up?’.”
The lovebirds tied the knot in 2015, in a star-studded bash attended by the likes of Amy Childs, Katie Price, and Eamonn Holmes, and for a while, everything seemed rosy. Rylan loved being a stepdad to Dan’s son Cameron, and there had been talk of them extending their family. They even ended up making history together as the first gay couple to host This Morning.
Sadly, their newlywed bliss wasn’t to last and, in June 2021, Rylan confirmed that he and Dan had gone their separate ways during an interview with The Sun. Admitting to ‘mistakes’ on his part, Rylan told fans: “Following reports about Dan and I spending time apart, I feel I have to speak out – as the way it is being reported is unfair.
“I have made a number of mistakes which I deeply regret and have inevitably led to the breakdown of our marriage. I have taken time away from work as I am not in a good place at the moment and am seeking help.”
Rylan has previously confessed that Dan left him due to his infidelity. Having cheated on him years beforehand, Rylan finally decided to come clean in May 2021 – but didn’t expect his husband would actually end things. In his candid 2022 memoir, Ten: The Decade That Changed My Future, Rylan wrote: “I have no excuses for what I did way back then, but I had my reasons. I think for many years I had felt a bit like an imposter. That nothing I was doing was right or not quite good enough.
“There were times when people told me this, and so confirmed my own self-doubts. And you know, when it’s those closest to you giving you this feedback, of course you take it to heart.”
Expressing shock at Dan’s reaction, he continued: “He left. Told me it was over and that was that. You’re not surprised? I get that. But I couldn’t believe it.”
During an episode of Kathy Burke’s Where There’s A Will There’s A Wake podcast back in March of this year, Rylan admitted that, although he didn’t regret getting married, he did wish he’d thought to get a prenup first. Rylan mused: “I don’t regret getting married. I mean I regret not having a f***ing prenup. That’s the only thing I regret. But even though everyone was like get a prenup, I was like I’m in love. Silly prick.”
The split had a profound effect on Rylan’s mental health, forcing him to take four months away from his work to recover. Opening up about his difficulties during an August 2023 episode of Matt Willis’s On The Mend podcast, Rylan shared that he’d made two suicide attempts during the dark period that followed his divorce.
Asserting that he’d ‘lost himself’ during the ordeal, Rylan said: “I can’t remember what made me disappear basically from the person I knew. But the next thing I knew I could not see, hear, eat, breathe, sleep – I couldn’t do anything.
“And yeah, there was no signs of me having a breakdown, there was no signs of – like if you’re having a heart attack, you’ll get the pains in your arm, you’ll get this… you know something’s about to happen even if it’s seconds before. I didn’t have the seconds, I just had the impact basically. The baseball bat round the face I call it. And yeah, I got very ill.”
The presenter was severely underweight during this low point and even ended up suffering two heart failures. As per Metro, Rylan revealed the extent of his frightening health scares during An Evening With Rylan Clark event at London Royal Festival Hall in September 2022.
Rylan recalled: “It was like my body had shut down. Twice last year I ended up back in an ambulance because my heart had failed and it was really strange because I just remember for a couple of weeks going, ‘My heart hurts’.”
The former X Factor star was told he had an alarming resting heart rate of 248 beats per minute – with a normal resting heart rate for adults ranging from 60 to 100 beats per minute. He continued: “My heart had to be restarted. I just remember lying in re-sus[citation], because I had these pads on with all these wires and not understanding what it was.”
Speaking with journalist Elizabeth Day in May 2023, on her How To Fail podcast, Rylan reflected that his ‘extremely traumatic’ divorce had ‘nearly killed’ him – all while shaping the person he is today. Rylan explained: “When you know you have been rock bottom, like to the point of no return nearly, that’s when you sit there and go, ‘I will never let anything or anyone get me to where I was in that state. Not even myself, I will never let that happen to myself again […]
“I’d like to sit here and think that the breakdown of my marriage has made me the person I am now, and I’m really, really, happy, with the person I am now, and I can sleep very well at night.”
In 2022 the TV presenter appeared on Fearne Cotton’s Happy Place podcast in which he revealed that his body “completely shut down” in the aftermath of the separation. “My body did completely shut down,” he said.
“I wouldn’t eat. I went through a stage where I couldn’t even talk, which for some people might be quite handy. My speech was just slurred. My mum thought I was having a stroke.”
During an appearance on Matt Wills’ On The Med podcast Rylan further detailed the ordeal, adding that he couldn’t see or eat. “I can’t remember what made me disappear, basically, from the person I knew, but the next thing I knew, I could not see, hear, eat, breathe, sleep, I couldn’t do anything,” he explained.
He added: “I just got into this dark hole where I thought I was crazy because nothing was making sense to me and partly that was because of upset and heartbreak, but at the same time, the situation, with what I was being told, I thought I was going mad, I thought I was making things up.”
Rylan recently revealed that he’s back on the dating scene again following his years of heartbreak, opening up to close pal Rob Rinder in a new BBC series, Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour. The show follows the two newly divorced men as they retrace the steps of the Grand Tourists of the past.
For younger noblemen of the 18th century, the Grand Tour – or the original gap year – was a rite of passage, and would see them travel around Europe to soak up culture, architecture and experiences – all while finding themselves. In other words, an ideal trip for two divorcées looking ahead to the next chapter.
Their adventures soon took a romantic turn, with both Rylan and Rob heading on fun blind dates that had been set up for them. Rylan shared: “Hopefully my luck with men is about to change. I always thought when you were younger ‘imagine if you were known, you would be able to get anyone you want’. It’s the complete opposite. I’ve had two dates in the last two years.
“One of them was really, really great and was going well. And then my job was just too much for his life. And then the other one was so interested in my job, he decided to call the press. So they’re the two opposite ends of the spectrum. I need somebody in the middle that can deal with it, but don’t want it.”
If you’re struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch
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