Rachel Stevens is reportedly dating her former Dancing On Ice partner Brendyn Hatfield.
The S Club 7 star, 45, appeared on the ITV show last year with professional skater Brendyn, 37, and a source has now told The sun the couple is ‘smitten’.
It comes after singer Rachel announced in July last year that she would be separating from her husband of 12 years, Alex Bourne.
Meanwhile, Brendyn also divorced his wife, fellow pro skater Jessica.
A source told The Sun on Sunday: ‘Rachel had a really great friendship and partnership with Brendyn and it continues to develop.
New love? Rachel Stevens, 45, is reportedly dating her former Dancing On Ice partner Brendyn Hatfield, 37 (Rachel and Brendyn pictured on Dancing On Ice last January)
End of the road: It comes after singer Rachel announced she would be divorcing her husband of 12 years, Alex Bourne (Rachel and Alex pictured in 2011) in July last year
“They are really in love and looking forward to the future.
She didn’t expect to find love again at this stage in her life, but she feels positive about what’s to come and hopeful about a fresh start.
“She takes each day as it comes and focuses on upcoming career projects.”
MailOnline has reached out to Brendyn and a representative for Rachel for comment.
Heart FM host Rachel and Brendyn first met when they started training for Dancing On Ice in November 2021.
They became friends, but in January last year became the third couple to be voted out of the competition.
Just a few months later, Rachel announced her divorce from her high school sweetheart Alex, just a month before their 13th wedding anniversary.
She moved out of the family home they shared earlier this year and the former couple is focusing on raising daughters Amelie, 12, and Minnie, nine.
Exes: Brendyn is married to fellow professional skater Jessica (pictured) who was a backup dancer for the 2020 series of Dancing On Ice. They broke up two years ago
The source added to the paper that Rachel and Alex are on good terms and are “co-parenting their two daughters,” with the couple communicating successfully as they work to break up their marriage.
They insisted that Rachel and Alex have a lot of “love and respect” for each other.
Brendyn is married to fellow professional skater Jessica who was a backup dancer for the 2020 series Dancing On Ice.
They broke up two years ago and she moved back to America where she worked as a nurse and performed on the Disney On Ice tour.
The source said the couple were “still friends” but hadn’t been in a relationship for “a long time.”
Pop star Rachel took to her Instagram Stories last July to inform her fans of the sad news that she had split from husband Alex
She wrote at the time, “I just wanted to share with you that after time and consideration the difficult decision has been made for Alex and I to part ways.
“Although we are no longer partners in marriage, we remain partners in parenting our beautiful girls and continue to love and respect each other.
Change: Rachel took to her Instagram Stories to let her fans know that she had split from Alex in July last year
Sweethearts: Rachel and Alex were childhood sweethearts after briefly dating at the age of 12 after meeting at a youth club
Family: Rachel and Alex later share daughters Amelie, 12, and Minnie, nine, together (both pictured)
“I am so incredibly grateful for the life we built together and I will now continue to focus on moving forward as a united family.”
Rachel and Alex, who were childhood sweethearts, got married in 2009 at Claridge’s in London.
The pair walked down the aisle to S Club 7’s hit Never Had A Dream Come True and her bandmates – Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett and the late Paul Cattermole – were there to see them say ‘I do’.
Rachel previously spoke of meeting her childhood sweetheart, Alex, again.
She discussed her defining life moments when she remembered repeatedly bumping into her ex-boyfriend “randomly.”
Rachel explained how it was “like being pulled together” on Roxie Nafousi’s The moments that made me podcast.
She said, “We were childhood sweethearts. We dated when we were 12, we met in youth club and I was in love with him!
“We probably went out for four weeks and when you’re that age that was a long time!”
The blonde beauty explained how the pair used to be in the same social groups and grew up together in North London.
She went into detail about their love story and continued, “We then went on dates again when we were 16 and then again when we were 18 and then we broke up, you know, of course I went off and did my thing, he left and did his thing.
‘Years and years later I was randomly in Selfridges and he walked in and we bumped into each other.
“We were both in our late twenties and oddly enough when he came in he said, I know I’m going to see you, he knew he’d see me…”
Unfortunately, the timing wasn’t right for the couple, as Rachel just got out of a long-term relationship and Alex had a girlfriend at the time.
She explained, “It was just lovely to see him as an old friend and from then on we randomly bumped into each other.
“His relationship with his girlfriend ended and then I went to LA and he was an actor then so he came to LA too.
“Then we rekindled our relationship!
“So it was kind of a random encounter and when we randomly bumped into each other it was like we were drawn to each other.”
Fame game: Rachel found success with pop group S Club 7 (clockwise LR Rachel, the late Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett, Bradley McIntosh, Hanah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara) (pictured in 1999)
Rachel admitted that after rekindling their romance, she knew Alex was “the one,” but said they took their relationship slowly, adding “the rest is history.”
Actress Rachel was previously in a relationship with former Hollyoaks actor Jeremy Edwards.
He proposed to Rachel on Valentine’s Day in 2002, while the couple went on their first date 18 months earlier.
The couple never married and they separated in 2004.
History: Rachel was previously in a relationship with former Hollyoaks actor Jeremy Edwards and he proposed to her on Valentine’s Day in 2002 before they later split without getting married in 2004 (pictured in 2003)