Lauren Goodger reveals broken promise made by Mark Wright before he married Michelle Keegan and claims the ex TOWIE star ignores her even though they attend the same gym

Lauren Goodger has revealed that Mark Wright promised to build her their first home together before he married actress Michelle Keegan.

The 37-year-old TOWIE star recalls her ex-boyfriend telling her about his dreams for the future and how she longed for marriage and children during their decades-long romance.

But Lauren says she had to watch as Mark achieved his goal of building a home from scratch with his wife Michelle, whom he married nine years ago.

Lauren believes the ‘love’ childhood sweethearts share never ‘ends’ and she is ‘proud’ of the way Mark has developed from reality star to TV presenter.

Despite her desire for a civilized relationship with her ex, Lauren claims the former couple do not speak to each other, even though they go to the same gym and see each other often.

Lauren said, ‘I remember one time he took me to a place near where we lived and said, “I’m going to buy a house and I’m going to build it. Do you want to do that?”

“Of course, because I want children in it and I want to get married. And he did it, but he moved on. It’s not with me.”

Lauren started dating Mark when they were teenagers, before they rose to fame on the ITVBe reality series The Only Way Is Essex.

After an on-again, off-again relationship that was extensively documented in the series, they split for good in 2012.

Mark married former Coronation Street actress Michelle over nine years ago and the couple live together in an Essex country house complete with gym and outdoor pool, which the Heart Radio presenter has spent months improving.

Lauren added: ‘I don’t think the kind of love from my childhood goes away.

“I’m happy for him. I don’t have those feelings now, today, but I’m proud of him and he probably doesn’t even know it because the media has written so many things and he probably thinks it’s coming from me. I’ve never really talked about him that much.”

Despite her more recent romances, including with ex-boyfriend Charles Drury, the father of her daughter Larose, Lauren admits Mark was the love of her life.

Speaking to Married At First Sight UK star Paul Brunson on his new podcast We Need To Talk, Lauren reveals that her relationship with Mark was turbulent because they both played games with each other, but their mutual feelings kept holding them back.

Lauren said: ‘I never thought I would ever love anyone else. I was with him on and off for 12 years.

“It wasn’t a smooth relationship. We broke up for a few months, got back together, but we grew up together. We grew up.

‘He was the love of my life. We wouldn’t have stayed together this long if he didn’t have this mutual feeling for me.

‘And of course I’ve been through a lot with him and everyone said to me, “Lauren, he was obsessed with you.”

“We’d have the same jealousy. We’d have the same, like, tit for tat, make them jealous, get back together. He couldn’t live without me and I couldn’t live without him.”

During their relationship, Mark was portrayed as a womaniser on TOWIE, following his affairs with co-stars Sam Faiers and Lucy Mecklenburgh.

Since leaving the show, Mark has built a successful reputation as a radio and TV presenter.

Last year he hosted his own show on the BBC, A Wright Family Holiday, while his wife Michelle topped the Netflix charts in January with her starring role in the thriller Fool Me Once.

But Lauren believes Mark’s fate could have been very different if they had supported each other during the height of their reality star fame.

She admitted: ‘It was okay, a little toxic at times of course, but not as bad as what I went through later in life.

“Yeah, we had some, what do you call it, tough times where things went wrong. But we were kids at some point. That was part of growing up. We could have gotten through it if we had gotten older and worked on certain things and maybe had a little help.”

During the No Holds Barred podcast, Lauren spoke candidly about her complicated love life, ongoing struggles with body image, and the devastating loss of her second child, Lorena, who passed away two minutes after birth in 2022.

Lauren has been single for the past two years after she accused her ex-partner Charles of assaulting her on the day of their daughter’s funeral.

Charles was accused of causing bodily harm to Lauren, but was acquitted of the attack after she withdrew her support for the prosecution.

She was also in a relationship with Jake McLean, who passed away in Turkey in July 2022 after a horrific car accident.

It was later revealed that Jake, whose girlfriend Yazmin Oukhellou was in the passenger seat, had gotten behind the wheel despite being three times over the legal drink drive and under the influence of cocaine.

After years of trauma, Lauren, who returned to TOWIE earlier this year, is seeking relief in the gym.

The star says she regularly runs into Mark during her workouts, as in a staged scene from the reality series, but they don’t say a word to each other.

Lauren revealed: ‘We see each other but we don’t speak at all. It’s very, very strange. I’d love to say hello but if I’m not wanted somewhere I shut down.

“We go to the same gym and stuff, and we don’t live far from each other. I’ve stood next to him in line at the gym and it’s awkward.

“Of course he’s moved on with his life. He has to respect that. And I respect that. But I’d like to say, ‘Hey, how are you? Are you okay,’ but that’s never happened.

“We don’t talk at all. We would never talk now because his life has moved on so much and I have to respect that and he respects his partner and his new life and whatever.”

Lauren predicts that Mark will not want to talk to her out of respect for Michelle and she understands that the couple is constantly under fire in public.

She said, ‘Listen, I actually feel a little sorry for them because of the media.

“How can he be seen talking to me? If someone takes a picture of that or says something, that could cause a lot of problems, more than it is now. So that’s where it’s difficult, and I understand that. I respect that and keep my space.”