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Celebrity Ex on the Beach star Lorena Medina has confirmed she’s split from Joey Essex, revealing they called time on their relationship when he was pictured leaving Rita Ora’s flat the morning after a night out.
Mexican model Lorena hit it off with Joey almost immediately when they both starred on the MTV show and their relationship went from 0 to 100 real quick when filming ended and she moved to England to live with him at his Chigwell home.
Calling the former TOWIE star “the love of my life”, Lorena revealed they’d discussed marriage and kids before a series of rows caused their romance to hit the rocks.
The final straw came when Lorena found out Joey had spent the night at popstar Rita’s flat after seeing pictures in a newspaper.
CHECK OUT 11 jaw-dropping TOWIE couples who should frankly never have got together
11 TOWIE couples you completely forgot about - slider
1 of 11Mark Wright and Sam Faiers
Mark and Sam's on/off relationship goes all the way back to when she was 16 and they met on MySpace (aw, those were the days). They briefly dated during their time on TOWIE but were never able to give things a proper go before he quit the show in 2011.
2 of 11Kirk Norcross and Amy Childs
Kirk and Amy's flirtationship was one of the main storylines during the first season of TOWIE and they eventually briefly dated before splitting in 2011. In a 2013 appearance on This Morning, Kirk admitted, "I will still love Amy until the day I die - she is literally like the girl version of me. When it didn't work out, it broke my heart really... and it wasn't her fault, it was both of our fault."
3 of 11Gemma Collins and Charlie King
Gemma and Charlie briefly dated in 2012 but split after she grew concerned about his friendship with Bobby Norris. Two years later, Charlie came out as gay during an appearance on This Morning. He's still friends with Gemma and even admitted in 2017 that he would consider being the GC's sperm donor if she asked.What a turn of events that would be.
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4 of 11Lauren Goodger and Tom Pearce
Remember the days when Joey Essex's BFF Tom Pearce romanced basically every woman within a 10 mile radius of Brentwood? Lauren Goodger became one his many conquests following her split from Mark Wright but they hit the rocks when she caught wind of him bragging about their rendezvous.
5 of 11Mario Falcone and Chloe Sims
It's fair to say Chloe Sims has been unlucky in love over the years but things looked up for her when she began dating close pal Mario. Things moved quick for the pair and she even admitted she loved him - causing friction with BFF Lauren Pope who'd previously dated Mario - but he wasn't ready to settle down and called things off.
6 of 11Harry Derbidge and Bobby Norris
After three years away from the TOWIE scene, OG cast member Harry Derbidge returned as Bobby Norris' boyfriend (in some very skimpy swimwear, nonetheless) during the cast's annual jaunt to Marbs.Their relationship ended in tears though when Harry confessed to sleeping with his ex while on holiday in Tenerife.
7 of 11Dan Osborne and Lucy Mecklenburgh
They've now found love with soap star other halves Jacqueline Jossa and Ryan Thomas but before that, Dan Osborne and Lucy Mecklenburgh were an item.They began dating in 2013 but called it quits amid claims he knew about his ex Megan Tomlin being pregnant before getting with Lucy.
8 of 11Charlie Sims and Ferne McCann
Ferne McCann's on/off relationship with Chloe Sims' brother Charlie provided LOTS of dramz on TOWIE over the years, with rumours she cheated on him cropping up more than once.Eventually Charlie publicly quit the show AND dumped Ferne at the same time in a series of tweets in 2014. Awks...
9 of 11Dan Edgar and Kate Wright
Before she wed footballer Rio and became Mrs Ferdinand, Kate Wright joined TOWIE as the ex of Dan Edgar, who reportedly dumped her to star in the show.She took him back after his romances with Lauren Pope and Jess Wright but it wasn't to be and they eventually split for good.
10 of 11Shelby Tribble and Tom McDonnell
Tom McDonnell joined TOWIE alongside a whole host of newbies including Harry Lee and Chloe Brockett in 2019 and soon caught the eye of Shelby Tribble following her split from Sam Mucklow.Sam soon came back on the scene though and Shelby dumped Tom to reunite with her ex. Sam and Shelby later quit the show together and are now expecting their first child.
11 of 11James Argent and Jasmin Walia
In between his long-running relationships with Lydia Bright and Gemma Collins, James Argent was set up on a blind date with Jasmin Walia and they appeared to hit it off. Things seemed to move too quickly for his liking though, causing him to run from her house after being introduced to her parents. Oh, Arg...
She told The Sun, “I knew Joey had spent the night out because I had talked to him when he was in the cab on the way back to Essex. He told me, ‘I had a crazy night and I stayed at my friend’s and that was fine. But he didn’t tell me it was a girl and he didn’t mention Rita Ora.”
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Lorena continued, “I told Joey, ‘This s--t can’t happen. Are you crazy? How would you feel if I spent the night with some guy?’ I was very upset and was like ‘F--k this. I don’t trust you. I don’t trust what you are saying’.
“We were crying, screaming and hanging up the phone so much I got eczema all over my body. After that Joey and I decided it was best if we didn’t talk any more. We said goodbye and agreed we were hurting each other too much and that it was time to end it and I haven’t spoken to him since.”
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Although Lorena and Joey split following his night out with Rita, she doesn’t believe he cheated and there’s no suggestion of any funny business but the 28 year old insists she was right to be suspicious.
Joey, who’s currently appearing on Channel 4’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, spoke out about his relationship with Rita last month.
He claimed his stay at her flat was purely innocent and insisted they were just friends.
Joey told The Sun, “We have known each other for years.
“She’s a nice girl, but we’re just friends.”
But he didn’t stop there and added, “She’s a sort.”
This article first appeared on heat on 27 April 2020.