In the wake of her split from fiancé Eddie Boxshall , a defiant Denise Van Outen says: “I don’t like to be taken advantage of.”
The couple, who appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox, broke up in January after seven years, amid rumours Eddie had sent messages to other women.
Denise, 47, who has an 11-year-old daughter, Betsy, from her marriage to Lee Mead, took a break from public life and social media, but has now come out fighting.
On BBC Radio 2, she said: “The one thing I’m really proud of myself for is I do know when to walk away. Sometimes it’s been to the detriment of my own career or in my own relationships, but I just feel it’s really important as a woman to have self-worth and self-respect.
“I’ve always tried to maintain that in anything that I do in life, generally. More so as a mother because I feel like I’m a role model and I have to set an example.”
She is optimistic about the future. She said: “The bad times are always followed by good times and that’s what I always look forward to.
“I think you just ride the wave of the bad times knowing that eventually you will get to a good place.”
