Celebrity Gogglebox star Denise van Outen has revealed that she is receiving therapy following splitting from her former partner, Eddie Boxshall. The musical star, 48, appeared on the Channel 4 show alongside Eddie and was in a relationship with him for seven years, before announcing in January that they were no longer together.
Denise's split from Eddie came after she found that he had been sending sexual messages to other women - a huge breach of trust. Since becoming single again, Denise has opened up on how hard she has found it to trust potential partners, and has revealed that she is now seeing a therapist to help her overcome these issues.
Speaking on the Happy Place Podcast to Fearne Cotton, Denise admitted that she is currently in the process of 'trying to work through' trusting partners again. She told Fearne: "I've always gone into any relationship with a massively open heart because I just always think that people are going to be honest and loyal because that’s how I approach everything, and you start to realise that we’re not all the same.
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"I think it will be a little bit of an issue but it’s just something that I’m going to have to work through. But I am open to it. I’m kind of trying to accept that it was just a little blip in my life and I’ve got to accept it for what it was and learn from it and grow from it."
Denise added: "You learn about yourself more and try and take the positives out of it rather than the negatives."
Although Denise is looking to heal from the traumatic ending to her most recent relationship, she has made it clear that her 12-year-old daughter, Betsy, is her priority. Denise said: "For me to just make sure Betsy’s all right really, that’s the main thing.
"I’m worried about her being OK, and how it will affect her going forward. As sensitive as I am, I’m a tough old cookie.
"I’m not prepared to compromise my morals and beliefs just to be in something. I always think that good will come in the end."
Denise has also admitted that she was not originally up for therapy, but then changed her mind. She said: "If anybody would have asked me a few months ago would you do therapy I’d go, ‘I don’t need it’, because I always think I’m quite good at solving things myself. But I think, ‘Well yeah, I’ve got to be open to it because I want to learn more about me."
When it comes to the search for love, Denise is slowly getting herself back out there, but with caution; the star confessed to Fearne that she has recently downloaded a dating app. She said: "I did download a dating app the other day but I haven’t gone on it.
"I’m too scared. I downloaded it and then I felt really awkward and I thought, 'I don’t know if I can do this'.
“I know it is the modern way but my morals, my values, the way I approach relationships, it’s so old-fashioned. That’s also one of the issues that I’ve probably got.”
In May, Eddie admitted that he had sent up to 20 text messages of a sexual nature to other women behind Denise's back. Although he has now expressed his regret towards his actions, Denise is adamant she will never get back with him, despite the reaction of some members of the public.
Denise said: "I went to the Post Office and the woman behind [the counter], she’s a lovely lady, but she was like, ‘How is everything?’
"She went, ‘I think you should get back with him'. I thought, you don’t even know what’s happened, because nobody knew at that point. I literally wanted to scream and go, ‘No’."
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