Paralympian Ellie Simmonds has split from her boyfriend Matt Dean after two years of dating.
The Strictly Come Dancing star, 28, has parted ways with Matt, with the Team GB athlete largely keeping their romance out of the public eye.
A source said The sun newspaper: ‘Ellie and Matt unfortunately broke up, but it was amicable on both sides and there is still a lot of love.
“They preferred to keep their relationship out of the public eye and that was also the case during the breakup, but both are doing well.”
The former couple first met when they were toddlers and started dating two years ago.
Breakup: Paralympian Ellie Simmonds has split from her boyfriend Matt Dean after two years of dating
Relationship: The Strictly Come Dancing star, 28, has split from Matt (pictured), with the Team GB athlete keeping their romance largely out of the public eye
Matt was spotted in the audience supporting Ellie as she took part in ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ last year.
When she signed up for Strictly, she credited Matt, who like Ellie has dwarfism, with encouraging her.
She told The Sun: ‘I thought should I, shouldn’t I. Then I spoke to my other half Matt, and he said, ‘Go for it Ellie, take that leap of faith, you won’t know unless you try.’
‘Now I’m so happy I said yes. As soon as I did that, we were bouncing around the kitchen, hurray! Like little buzzing bees.’
Meanwhile, Ellie, who has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia, recently made a documentary about her search for her birth mother after discovering she had been put up for adoption.
In the ITV programme, the Paralympian was heartbroken to discover that medical professionals had told her mother that Ellie could be bullied and seen as ‘bad’ and ‘stupid’.
However, Ellie – who has won five gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Beijing, London and Rio – did not let this discovery stop her from embarking on a successful journey to track down the woman who gave birth to her.
According to the Daily Mirror, she said: ‘It has never affected me emotionally until now.
A source said: ‘Ellie and Matt have sadly split but it was amicable on both sides and there remains a lot of love there’
They added: ‘They preferred to keep their relationship out of the public eye and it was the same with the breakup but both are doing well’
‘I have never felt rejected or asked why my biological parents don’t want me. I’m so focused on the future and I’ve never thought about it.’
Ellie has often said that her adoptive parents Steve and Val – who have four other children – are some of her biggest supporters, but didn’t know she wasn’t their biological daughter.
But soon questions began to arise and she set out on an adventure to find her birth story.