Wynne Evans has hit the headlines this week, having been axed from the Strictly Come Dancing tour after making a lewd remark to dancer Janette Manrara.
The Welsh opera singer, 53, was dropped from the live tour on Tuesday after he was filmed making an “inappropriate” sexual joke to host Manrara during the launch earlier this month.
Evans has also announced he is taking time off from his BBC Radio Wales show and is reportedly fighting to save his deal with insurance comparison website, GoCompare.
Away from the spotlight the singer’s love life has been plagued with heartbreak, from a divorce with violinist Tanwen Evans that saw him hit “rock bottom” to the recent reported split from his girlfriend Liz Brookes.
He met Tanwen while they were on the same British Youth Orchestra course, when he was playing the starring role in a production of Robinson Crusoe.
Evans proposed at Cardiff Central station and the couple tied the knot in 1999.
They share two children - a daughter, Ismay, and a son, Taliesin.
After their divorce in 2016, Evans revealed he left the family home and had to move into a “sad” house with boarded-up windows in Cardiff as it was all he could afford at the time.
“It was a really sad house because it was derelict, and I moved here after a divorce,” he said on The Starting Line podcast with Rich Leigh last year.
“I didn't want to move here, I wanted to stay married. So I bought it and it just became sad. It was a sad place.'
“It was boarded up because all of the windows had gone. I came to see the house and it was the size I wanted and it's what I could afford.”
The Celebrity MasterChef star said the house was in such a bad state when he moved in that his kids had to sleep in tents when they came to visit.
Reflecting on his divorce from Tanwen, Evans previously said he spiralled into depression and had “dark thoughts”.
“It was almost like grief, but you can't grieve for somebody that's still there,” he said on BBC Radio Wales to mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Week.
“So, it really affected my mental health, my confidence and my ego - it totally changed me as a person.
“It made me very aware of being alone. And, even though I was only 46, I had this irrational fear of dying on my own. I had very dark thoughts and very dark days where I would contemplate all sorts of terrible things.
“I think it's obvious what I'm saying, but I don't want to say it because some people find it distressing. I'm fine to talk about it now, but at that time nothing would help me. I realised that I wanted my life to be over and I did some stupid things.”
Evans said he booked to see a psychiatrist and began taking medication, adding that fresh air and exercise helped him keep the depression at bay.
The singer began dating events manager Brookes, 50, early last year after meeting her at an event.
He previously credited the fitness fanatic with helping him to lose weight ahead of Strictly.
“I go out running with my girlfriend and stuff and I feel much better for it,” he said on the Starting Line podcast.
This week, it was reported that Brookes was “humiliated” over his close bond with professional dancer Katya Jones on Strictly, which saw him having to apologise for putting his hand around her waist.
A source told The Sun: "Although she loyally stood by him in public, Liz was humiliated by what happened when he was on Strictly.
"She always knew he was a bit old school, and actually liked the fact he seemed rough round the edges. She just assumed it was all part of his charm.”
During Evans’ time on Strictly, he had to apologise for a “joke” after Jones was seen moving his hand away from her waist.
In another moment, Jones appeared to not want to high-five her celebrity partner, which they later called “a running joke”.
The insider said: “It was very difficult for Liz, but she continued to back him throughout the rest of the contest, often being seen in the audience enthusiastically applauding him right up to him being knocked out in Blackpool week in November.”
Brookes supported Evans throughout his time on Strictly and shared a sweet snap of them together in which she gushed that she was “proud” of him.
The source said it’s unclear exactly when Evans and Brookes reportedly split, but when his crude remark at the tour launch was revealed she was “relieved they were no longer together”.
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