Alesha Dixon thought she would 'never find love again' after the revelation of her first husband's affair, but that all changed when she met dancer Azuka Ononye.
The 44-year-old Britain’s Got Talent judge and Eurovision host was first married to So Solid Crew rapper MC Harvey for 12 months before discovering his infidelity with West End stage co-star Javine Hylton in 2006.
A heartbroken Alesha was devastated by the public betrayal and immediately ended her marriage.
After parting ways with Harvey, her pop career as she knew it also imploded as her girlband Mis-Teeq went their separate ways shortly after.
Alesha had been in her relationship with Harvey, 43, for five years before they got hitched in 2005.
During an appearance on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, former Strictly Come Dancing champ Alesha admitted she felt "lost and empty" when her marriage fell apart.
She said: "Anyone that knows me knows that I eat a lot. So I didn't eat for a few days I just remember sitting on the floor in my house.
"The feeling I remember is feeling lost. I honestly couldn't even find any words."
Alesha also admitted to having a split-second thought of "ending it all".
She told Piers Morgan's Life Stories: "It was a split-second thought it's obviously something I would never, ever do or was even close to doing, I just remember having a feeling where I was driving when I just felt so low in myself that I just thought I wouldn't care if the car crashed, I just wouldn't care."
Former So Solid Crew member Harvey recalled the moment he had to confess his affair to Alesha.
Opening up on the James English podcast the rapper said: "The day I left Javine's house, it was so weird. I'd left her house and I was driving home to my marital home and as I'm two miles from my house, she [Javine] rang me and said 'she knows, she knows' as I pulled up on my drive."
He added: "The worst thing I've ever had to do is tell a woman I cheated on her.
"When I walked in the front room, Alesha just said to me: 'Do you want some food Harvey?' and I'm thinking 'Yeah of course I will'."
The pair then sat down to watch a TV which, ironically, was an episode of the Tyra Banks Show about cheating.
He recalled: "She was there watching TV when she paused it and my heart sank. She said: 'How long has it been going on Harvey?' and that was it.
"I thought she was going to kill me. To this day, it is the worst two days I've ever spent in my house."
Harvey revealed he was urged by his mum to 'stay int he house' because he 'owed' Alesha for 'breaking her heart'.
Harvey went on to have a relationship with Javine and they welcomed a daughter called Angel in 2008.
They later broke up following allegations that he had cheated.
Years on from Alesha's heartache, the TV star forgave Harvey as the pair secretly reconciled at his stepfather's funeral.
In 2021, Harvey revealed the pair wished one another well as Alesha paid her respects to Harvey's stepdad Ray four years ago.
He said: "Four years ago my stepfather died, and she(Alesha) came to my mother’s to pay her respects with her partner. Isn’t that unbelievable."
Harvey added: "When Alesha turned out with her partner, I went to the boys, look after him show him love and the boys were like, ‘One hundred percent.’
"That’s because she was here for Ray (his stepfather), and that within itself is respect.
"She then sent £500 worth of flowers to my mother to put in his funeral car."
Luckily, Alesha was fortunate enough to find lasting love with her now-husband, Azuka Ononye.
The couple met and became friends in 2006 when Alesha was on the road for her music and he was a dancer.
He's worked for the likes of Tinie Tempah, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Pixie Lott, Estelle, and Ashanti, to name a few.
In an interview Jonathan Ross, Alesha confessed to playing hard to get for "about a year" before the pair got together.
She said: "And then I had the foot operation and I couldn’t walk and he was literally sleeping on the floor looking after me every day.
"I was just looking at him thinking, 'That is for better or for worse isn’t it.' I looked a state, he was sleeping on the floor because I was on the couch, I couldn’t even get up the stairs.
"If he can carry me to the toilet then he’s a keeper," she joked.
And although the pair have never officially confirmed their marriage, in 2017 Alesha introduced him onto Michael McIntyre's Big Show on Sunday by saying: "This is my lovely husband AZ. You can call him Azuka!"
Alesha admitted in an interview that despite AZ actually proposing to her several times, she'd always said no.
But, after nine years together it appears the couple finally decided to tie the knot.
They now have two daughters, Azura Sienna, nine, and Anaya Safiya, three, who Alesha credits as being her 'inspiration'.
The BGT star said in 2021 that welcoming her daughters saved her from burnout.
She revealed: "Having a daughter really just reins me in a little bit. Because you’re thinking about them first.
"I realised there’s only so long, you can party, party, party before you burnout, and juggling work and having fun and going out.
"I had my first daughter at 34. I think she was the making of me."
