James Argent shares sweet clip singing with ex Lydia Bright’s daughter Loretta, two

James Argent shared a sweet clip singing with his ex Lydia Bright’s daughter Loretta, two, on Wednesday as he visited their family home for a catch up.

The former TOWIE star, 34, looked happy and relaxed as he belted out a tune with the little one – who Lydia, 30, shares with ex Lee Cronin – as they ate ice creams together.

However Lydia penned in her caption that she doesn’t often post about her friendship with ex Arg – who she had a tumultuous on-of relationship with as he battled a drug addiction – as ‘people don’t get it’.  

In the clip Arg sweetly doted on Loretta as they chilled out in the garden together, with the toddler wearing cute fairy wings and a white summer dress.

Lydia penned in the caption: ‘Look who popped round this eve for an ice cream and a duet @real_arg.

‘I rarely post our friendship, because people don’t always get it but this was too cute not to upload.’  

Arg then re-shared the post on his own Instagram Story along with a series of red love hearts.

Lydia and Arg split in 2016 after a tumultuous on and off seven-year relationship when Lydia reportedly came home to find recovering drug addict James ‘out of it.’

Earlier this year James  revealed he is struggling to find love after his dramatic 13 stone weight loss, but won’t be reconciling with exes Lydia or Gemma Collins.

Speaking The Mirror about his relationship with his fellow TOWIE star, Arg said it’s ‘frustrating’ that girls won’t approach him because they believe he and Lydia have rekindled their romance, adding that they’ve decided to remain close friends.

Lydia has been single following the end of her relationship with Lee Cronin, who’s her daughter Loretta’s father. 

Arg explained: ‘We want to be in each other’s lives forever. She’s one of my closest friends. We care about each other and respect each other but we think anything else than staying friends would jeopardise that. 

‘I want to be able to see Lydia when I’m not having a good day as she’s somebody I turn to for help, but we can’t do that at the minute because we get pictured and everyone says, ”they’re back together.”  

‘I have girls who think ”aren’t you with Lydia” so they don’t bother with me. It’s frustrating.’

Arg added that he feels he can turn to Lydia with his problems, but also can confide in her mum – who sends him inspirational quotes in the morning to help him with his recovery.

In July 2021, James was ‘inseparable’ from Lydia as they both attended his sister Natasha’s wedding, posing for photos together with 21-month-old Loretta. 

James and Lydia became friends again earlier that year after not speaking while the singer dated Diva Forever star Gemma and battled several demons in his personal life. 

Over the past seven years, James has struggled with cocaine addiction after finding fame and fortune on ITVBe show TOWIE. 

James spent 10-weeks in a Thailand rehab clinic in 2020 after suffering two near-fatal overdoses, and has spoken publicly about his addictions. 

Last year, he said: ‘I’m in my thirties now and I have fully accepted my life had become completely unmanageable because of A) drugs and B) my eating disorder.

‘I feel that from a young age, I have always struggled in terms of body image, the way I’ve looked, and I’ve used my personality… being the smiley, happy person, for show – it was almost like wearing a mask.’   

Speaking about his relationship with Lydia, he added: ‘When I first got in TOWIE, the whole thing was a shock to me, I only had one girlfriend my entire life and that was Lydia. 

‘I was going from job to job trying to make it as a wedding singer and all of a sudden, I started earning good money, I had lots of attention from women in night clubs and when Lydia broke up with me it was a shock, and I struggled to deal with that.

‘The pain I was going through from the heartbreak, I started to use drugs heavily to escape the feelings and bad and I was battling with insecurities with how I looked on TV. I was eating and eating to comfort myself. I thought if I got Lydia back, it would solve all my problems.’