After nearly eight years of marriage and their fair share of ups and downs, Jacqueline Jossa and Dan Osborne’s romance has come to an end. The couple – who share daughters Ella, nine, and Mia, six, while Dan is also dad to son Teddy, 11 – confirmed it was over in an official statement.
It’s believed that Jac, 32, has stayed in their Essex family home while Dan, 33, is living nearby. Reports have also suggested that the former TOWIE star secretly purchased his own property last year, without Jac’s knowledge. The couple have since been seen without their wedding rings, and the EastEnders star’s mum has unfollowed Dan on social media.
Now, a source tells heat, ‘This split isn’t a shock for Jac, and it’s been a long time coming. Dan keeping things from her this past year has only pushed her towards the decision, especially him buying his own house to protect himself financially. After everything they had been through, that was the final straw. Seemingly planning his own future outside of their marriage felt like the ultimate betrayal, and a sad sign that things really were over between them.’
The split comes just weeks after Jac appeared to slam suggestions of a divorce, saying in an interview, ‘[Dan and I] lie in bed next to each other, laughing and reading stuff online about us. The speculation is ridiculous.’ Rumours that they may have been heading for a split circulated last year, when the couple put their £2million mansion on the market after spending three years renovating the ‘dream home’. According to reports, the property – which Jacqueline owns – sold just days before their announcement.
It’s no secret that the couple’s relationship has been far from smooth sailing. They first met at an awards show in 2013, shortly after Dan’s break-up from Megan Tomlin, the mother of his son Teddy. But in 2018, Dan was accused of having a fling with Gabby Allen, 33, after they were pictured getting close on a yacht in Marbella, before appearing on Celebrity Big Brother together just months later. Dan denied the claims and insisted they were just friends.
Soon after, he was accused of having a threesome with his other CBB housemates Chloe Ayling, 28, and Natalie Nunn, 40. Again, he denied the allegations. And then months later, Dan was snapped seemingly sharing a kiss with Love Island’s Alexandra Cane, 33. He later branded the rumours ‘rubbish.’
However, wounds opened in 2019 during Jac’s appearance on I’m A Celebrity, when she had a conversation with Gabby’s ex Myles Stephenson, who claimed Dan had indeed cheated with her. After Jac eventually won the show, Dan took to Instagram to ‘publicly apologise to my beautiful wife and my family for the mistakes I've made’. The following year, he admitted in an interview, ‘I’ve done things I shouldn’t have done… she has forgiven me. There have been times where if it were the other way round, I would have left.’
But with things finally reaching boiling point, our source says the star is done protecting him. ‘No one really knows the real truth of Dan’s behaviour,’ we’re told. ‘Jac’s always tried to put on a brave face for the kids, but it was absolutely humiliating. Even if it was just rumours that he had texted another woman, she’d be at home sobbing.’
As she looks to the future and enters her new single chapter, Jac – who’s been back on EastEnders as Lauren Branning since the end of 2023 – is refusing to let heartbreak get the best of her.
‘Jac doesn’t want to feel bitter. She is already looking ahead and gunning for a big comeback after putting her career aside for so many years and dimming her light because there was always some slight jealousy from Dan,’ our source says.
‘She wants to tell her side of the story, re-establish herself as an actress and go on another reality show. She wants to spend the next few years becoming the main character of her own life again. To Jac, that would be the best revenge there is.’