Helen Skelton felt undervalued by ex-husband Richie Myler in their marriage
(Picture: PA)Strictly Come Dancing star Helen Skelton said she and estranged husband Richie Myler avoided each other the year before they split.
The BBC presenter also revealed that she felt unappreciated by the rugby league player as she tried to balance her career and raising their two young children.
Skelton, 39, and Richie, 32, married in 2013 and separated this April – four months after she gave birth to their third child.
The pair continued to live together for months after their marriage broke down, but avoided each other.
In a newly unearthed interview from before they officially split, when Skelton was asked if their staying under the same roof reignited any romantic feelings, she replied: “No... We’re not in the house together – we are staying out of each other’s way.
“We say this is the dream as we have breakfast, lunch and dinner together but then look after the kids in shifts.
“You appreciate the other in this situation. I don’t think he’ll ever say again: ‘What do you do with the kids all day?’”
“Sometimes I would get in from work and he’d be that husband that would look at the kitchen and say: ‘How is this still a mess when she’s been off all day?’" she added to The Mirror.
“Now he’s done it he’s like: ‘How does she stay sane?’"
Skelton said their children, Ernie, seven, and Louis, five, would stay up late, which prevented the couple from having quality time together.
She explained: “If we sit on the couch before 10pm we’re happy. My kids... are terrible sleepers."
In a new interview with The Telegraph, the Countryfile host also confessed that she struggled to make friends while married to Myler as his sports career meant that the family was constantly moving.
"I think you don’t realise who your mates are and how much family you’ve got – and I didn’t,” said Skelton, who since the breakup has moved back to her childhood home with her parents.
“My social circles have always been very transient because we’ve moved around for rugby. People are there for a couple of years, and then they’re gone."
Skelton is currently single while Myler swiftly moved on with new girlfriend Stephanie Thirkill, also 32, with the new romance coming to light in May, days after it was announced that his eight-year marriage to Skelton was over.
Thirkill’s father, Andrew Thirkill, is the multimillionaire president of Myler’s rugby league club, Leeds Rhinos.
It was revealed recently that Myler is expecting a baby with his new girlfriend, and on last Saturday night’s Strictly, Skelton looked teary as her dance partner Gorka Marquez spoke out about her “difficult time” live on the show.
