“I like being around her…but I have to behave!” Ronnie O’Sullivan credits ‘supportive’ partner Laila Rouass for bringing balance to his life after rekindling romance
Ronnie O’Sullivan has credited girlfriend Laila Rouass for bringing more balance to his life after reconciling with the actress after a brief split.
The legendary snooker player, 47, originally started a relationship with former Hollyoaks star Rouass in 2012 before confirming their engagement the following year.
But in 2022, Rouass, 51 – a mother of 17-year-old daughter Inez from a previous relationship with businessman Nasir Khan – announced the engagement was off.
Within weeks, however, the pair were reunited – and the characteristically dour O’Sullivan insists they are happier than ever.
“It’s okay,” he told The Mirror. ‘She is amazing. I love her. She’s great company and I love being around her.
“She’s very supportive. I have to behave. I know when to go, “Okay, you’re in charge.” But she is also very good at saying: “Listen, you have a busy life, you have a lot to do, just keep going”‘.
Stronger than ever: Ronnie O’Sullivan has credited girlfriend Laila Rouass for bringing more balance to his life after reconciling with the actress following a brief split
Old times: The sportsman originally started a relationship with former Hollyoaks star Rouass in 2012 before confirming their engagement the following year – but they temporarily split in 2022
He added: “Now it feels a lot better – everyone is just in a better place. I just want to see her and her daughter happy, and her family, who are like my family, happy.”
After well-documented struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, the snooker player also credits the tight-knit community of Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous for helping him find inner peace.
“I went to AA and NA, I learned about addiction and struggled for about three or four years, because I just couldn’t accept being addicted,” he added.
“Now I don’t doubt it anymore, when I used to go out and try to drink wisely and fail miserably. So now, I guess, don’t even get started. They say if you stand outside the hairdresser long enough, you will eventually go to the hairdresser.
“So I stay away from clubs, from people who drink. They are not for me, because eventually I will be.’
Iconic: O’Sullivan is widely regarded as one of the best snooker players of his generation
Wild past: But success comes at a price, and O’Sullivan has had well-documented struggles with alcohol and substance abuse issues (pictured in 2004)
Rouass appeared on the ITV1 show Loose Women in April 2022, telling the panel how she had ‘manifested’ O’Sullivan back into her life.
She said, ‘Me and Ronnie are back together, we’ve found our way back. We just worked it out – when I announced it, we hadn’t been together for nearly eight months.”
“He texted me and said, ‘tell them you’ve manifested me in your life again.’
She added: “Talking is so underrated. If you can sit down and say how you feel and what you want – as you get older, that’s much easier to say too.’
“He has been feeling flat lately since coming back from work, we are manifesting good thoughts and it is working. He uses self-compassion.”