Ben Foden has defended his "incredibly special" whirlwind second marriage after splitting from The Saturdays star Una Healy.
Ben, who tied the knot with Jackie Belanoff Smith in August 2019 after just a few months of dating, said he's "never been happier".
The Dancing On Ice star split from Una in 2018 after Ben admitted that he cheated while she was pregnant with their second child.
Writing in a guest column for Closer magazine, Ben draws similarities between his relationship and a woman who went viral on TikTok.
Summer Fox made headlines after she decided to travel across Thailand with Matt Giffen after just one date.
The couple were met with criticism for their impulsive decision, with many saying that the relationship wouldn't last.
But Ben said that he understood how the pair felt, adding that he married his second wife Jackie quickly.
He dismissed previous reports that the pair got hitched just two weeks after dating, adding that it was a couple of months.
He wrote: "Our relationship was fast, but I knew within the first few weeks that Jackie was incredibly special.
"I'm a big believer in love at first sight, and I think people should trust their gut more. Love can take so many different forms, there's no right or wrong way to date so you can't judge other people's love stories."
He added: "I wasn't looking for anything serious when we met and it was totally out of the blue, but I didn't want to lose her so I just went for it and now I've never been happier."
Una and Ben split up before they were due to move to America after the sports star was signed to Rugby United New York.
Ben continued the move to the States, while Una went home to Thurles in Tipperary with their children Tadhg, seven, and Aoife, 10.
"At the moment anything that’s published about me is never very good and pretty rightly so, because I was the one who committed adultery," he told The Guardian.
"But at the same time, it wasn’t the only reason for our divorce to go through.
"It’s not ideal but we’re very amicable, we’re getting through it.
"We’re not the first people in the world to get divorced. We’ve got two little kids we adore.”
He and American native Jackie welcomed their first child Farrah together in May 2020.
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Una told The Sun that it "took a bit of time to recover" from the "traumatic" split.
"I’ve had quite a bit of time to recover from it all. It was traumatic, the whole thing, it really was.
“But I am actually very happy right now. This is me now and you have to get used to your new life and I couldn’t be at a better place than at home in Ireland with my family. That’s just how it is”.
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