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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Hana Carter

Kym Marsh candidly shares financial struggles as a single mum before she found fame

Kym Marsh has spoken about how she struggled to pay for nappies before her rise to fame in the pop band Hear'Say.

The 46-year-old said how it was a tough to scrape money together when her son David, 27 and Emilie, 25, were growing up.

She shares her kids with her former fiancé Dave Cunliffe, who she split from in 1999 – just one year after Emilie was born.

"They were well-clothed and fed, although they didn’t have any luxuries. Sometimes it was tricky getting money together for the week," she said.

"When Emilie was a baby, my sister, Tracey, and I would sometimes go halves on a bag of nappies.

Kym Marsh fell pregnant with her first child David when she was a teenager (BBC)

"I’d also take the kids to Mum’s if we didn’t have enough money to top up the electric meter. Times were difficult, but we managed, and I made it work," she recalled to Prima.

Kym grew up in a council estate in Wigan and fell pregnant when she was 18-years-old.

She lived in a '£80 a week in rented accommodation' with her two children.

Kym is mum to daughter Emilie (marsh_kym/Instagram)
Kym Marsh is also a proud mum to son David Cunliffe (WireImage)

In very different circumstances now, she has said how she wants to "set a good example" to her children and grandchildren. who supported her while she was on Strictly Come Dancing.

Strictly star Kim, is also mum to Polly, 11, who she shares with ex-husband Jamie Lomas.

The couple also welcomed their son Archie in 2009, but he tragically died shortly after his premature birth.

Kym is now married to Scott (marsh_kym/Instagram)
Kym has been open about the loss of her son Archie (Ken McKay/ITV/REX)

Kym is now married to Scott Ratcliff, an Army Major who she said "I do" to last year.

She has said that as she's got older she's realised what she wants in a relationship, and how her husband "takes care of her".

The couple don't live together as Scott lives on an army barracks from Monday to Friday, but he makes the effort to drive home every weekend to see her.

Kym finished 10th on Strictly this year, but she said that as much as she loved taking part in the show, it also left her feeling quite anxious.

Kym finished 10th on the show (BBC)

She was forced to take a week off after she caught Covid-19, which caused some controversy as she was immune from being voted out that week.

She told the publication that she was "proud" of what she had achieved during her time on the show.

As well as brushing up on her dancing skills, she said that she "lost a bit of weight", learned new things about herself and "met some amazing people."

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