Rachel Stevens has broken her silence after announcing her split from husband of 12 years, Alex Bourne. The former S Club 7 singer has thanked fans for their messages of support in a new update.
Taking to her Instagram stories, Rachel wrote: "I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your lovely messages of love and support. It means so much."
Rachel and Alex, who share two daughters together, married in 2009 and were due to mark their 13th wedding anniversary in August. On Friday, July 1, the 44-year-old confirmed the "difficult decision" has been made for the pair to go their separate ways.
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In a statement posted on Friday night, the Dancing On Ice star said: "I just wanted to share with you all that after time and consideration the difficult decision has been made for Alex and I to separate.
"While we are no longer partners in marriage, we will remain partners in parenthood to our beautiful girls and continue with love and respect for each other."
The 44-year-old concluded: "I feel so incredibly grateful for the life we built together and will now continue to be focused on moving forward united as a family."
Rachel and Alex are childhood sweethearts and have known each other since they were kids. Rachel has previously shared their love story on the Loose Women panel, reports The Mirror.
She said: "We were boyfriend and girlfriend when we were 12. We were boyfriend and girlfriend on and off during our teens until I got into the band, and he went off and did his stuff.
"Then we bumped into each other randomly in our late twenties, and at that point I'd sworn off men, but it was really lovely to see him. But I was going off to LA at the time, so no, but then we reconnected. We obviously had all of that history and now, the rest is history." For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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