EXACTLY two years since her 13-year marriage ended, Rachel Stevens has entered Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin “dream divorce” territory. On the day we meet, the S Club star and her ex-husband Alex Bourne – dad to her two daughters, Amelie, 13, and 10-year-old Minnie – are meeting up, accompanied by their respective partners, for their first double dinner date. “Do you know what? I’m feeling good about it,” says Rachel, 46, who split from estate agent Alex – star of Netflix’s new reality show Buying London – in July 2022.
Only months earlier, she had met her current partner, US pro-skater Brendyn Hatfield when she was partnered with him on Dancing On Ice. Alex, too, now has a new partner. “We’re going to talk about the kids, because parenting a teenager can be challenging and all parents need to set boundaries, and we just want to align on some things.
"Obviously, we’ve got two different homes , but we need to come together on certain things. “[Alex and Brendyn] really get on. They’re both good people,” she says.
It’s an admirable and enviable display of sensible adulting, a set-up that mirrors the respect exhibited by Gwynnie and Coldplay star Chris after their 2014 “conscious uncoupling”. But Rachel admits it’s taken time to reach their happy place. Rachel lays bare the truth about the unravelling of their marriage in her brand-new memoir Finding My Voice – specifically how her feelings grew for Brendyn, 38, soon after their DOI jo.
