This Morning: Vanessa Feltz appeared on the ITV daytime show to discuss splitting from her partner of 16 years
(Picture: ITV)Vanessa Feltz has given her first TV interview since splitting from ex-fiancé Ben Ofoedu and says not only does she feel “humiliated,” she is struggling to sleep.
The presenter, 60, shocked fans at the weekend when she announced that she and the 50-year-old Phats & Small singer had split after 16 years together.
Now, she has discussed her heartache in an emotional sit down interview with Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby on ITV’s This Morning.
Appearing on Wednesday’s episode, the TalkTV star said that the break-up came as both a sudden shock and a “gradual thing”.
Blinking back tears, she expressed her gratitude for the support that she had receieved over the last couple of days, saying: “People have been amazing. Absolutely amazing, and of course it helps a lot.
Our @VanessaOnAir opens up about how she feels following her heartbreaking split from ex-fiancé Ben. #ThisMorning pic.twitter.com/8ub5di4BwR
— This Morning (@thismorning) February 8, 2023
“I can’t sleep at all, so reading thousands and thousands of messages from lovely people on Instagram is something to do in the night.”
She added: “When you have to end a relationship it’s very hard. I’ve had what feels like millions of messages from so, so many people going through it.
“I wouldn’t want to minimise in any way what it’s like when you’re heartbroken. It’s horrible.”
In a video shared to her Instagram post on Sunday, Feltz said that “once the trust in a relationship is gone you really can’t get it back”.
Elaborating on her remarks further, she told Schofield and Willoughby: “I think it helps when people say you shouldn’t feel foolish for having faith in your own partner.
“You shouldn’t feel that you’ve done something stupid because you believed in somebody that you loved. That isn’t a ridiculous thing to do.
“Like I said, I feel sad. I feel hurt. I feel terribly humiliated. And lots of people have said you shouldn’t, so I think that’s quite helpful. To believe in your own relationship isn’t stupid.”
The mum-of-two vowed she would not let the relationship ending consume her, saying: “I’m not alone and I’ve been through it before. It’s not like I’m a stranger to this stuff. I’ve already had a horrible divorce, but I’m absolutely not going to let it grind me down.”
Feltz and Ofoedu first got together in 2005 and over the years regularly made appearances together both on-screen, at events and in magazines.
He got down on one knee a year after they started dating and while Feltz accepted his proposal, she admitted that her previous marriage had left a bad taste in her mouth.
Feltz was previously married to doctor Michael Kurer, with whom she has two children.
They were wed in 1983, but got divorced in 2000.
