After years of friendship, soap stars Anthony Quinlan, 37, and Nikki Sanderson, 38, are loved-up with each other.
The pair become romantically involved last year, after the former Emmerdale actor message the current Hollyoaks star on social media.
Speaking in a new interview, Anthony - who also appeared in Hollyoaks until 2011 - explained how he and the Maxine Minniver actress prefer to keep their relationship private, but confirmed they are "really happy".
"I slid into the DMs and that was it. I was lucky enough to get a date and the rest is history," the admitted to The Sun.
Speaking about Nikki - who enjoyed a six year stint in Coronation Street as a teenager - the actor gushed: "All I can say is I'm really, really happy and she's a very special girl. She's lovely."
Anthony went on to state he likes to keep his romance out of the spotlight, but is "happy that it is what it is".
The Salford-born actor is best known for playing Gilly Roach in Channel 4 soap Hollyoaks from 2005 until his departure in 2011, and his role as Pete Barton on ITV's Emmerdale as Pete Barton until 2020.
His blossoming relationship with Nikki isn't the former soap star's first celebrity romance.
Prior to finding love with the Hollyoaks babe, Anthony famously dated Strictly Come Dancing professional Dianne Buswell - splitting in 2018 before she grew close with her dance partner and now-boyfriend Joe Sugg.
Dismissing rumours of the infamous 'Strictly curse' playing a role in their break up, Anthony told the Daily Star in 2018: "We're still really good friends - it's just distance played a part.
"There were all these rumours about the Strictly curse but it wasn't that."
Anthony also enjoyed a two-year romance with former Coronation Street star Michelle Keegan, before going their separate ways in 2008.
Nikki has also enjoyed some soap romances off-camera over the years - previously dating her Corrie co-star Danny Young from 2005 to February 2009.
Her most recent relationship, prior to coupling up with Anthony, was her five-year union with businessman Greg Whitehurst.
The pair called it quits on their romance during one of the first national lockdowns, with the actress telling reporters in July 2020: "Sadly Greg and I have decided to separate. We remain friends and wish the best for each other in the future."
Their relationship had got off to a rocky start, thanks to first starting dating in 2015, just ten months after she attended his wedding as a guest.
[Greg’s] been blamed for something he didn’t do… in reality there was a third party who split them up on the other side," Nikki told OK! the same year, setting the record straight.
"It ended through no fault of Greg’s. People say, 'Well, I wouldn’t want to be her mate because she’d steal my boyfriend,' I’d never do anything like that."
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