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Christopher Dean's former marriage to Olympic champion revealed

Dancing On Ice star Christopher Dean shot to fame after bringing home a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. Crowned one of Britain's National Dance Champions alongside his partner, Jayne Torvill, Christopher's extensive career in the ice dancing industry eventually led him to a meeting with his future wife – and fellow Olympic star – Isabelle Duchesnay. Keep reading for all the details on their two-year marriage.

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Christoper Dean crossed paths with French-Canadian skater, Isabelle Duchesnay in the late 1980s after he was asked to choreograph for her and her brother Paul Duchesnay.

MORE: Dancing On Ice star Christopher Dean's family life in photos

READ: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean reveal 'very close' relationship has impacted marriages

After marrying on May 19 1991, the couple tied the knot in Montreal but later decided to divorce in 1993. While both Christoper and Isabelle have said very little about their two-year marriage, in 2014, Jayne Torvill explained that her close friendship and skating partnership with Chris had caused some issues for Isabelle.

isabelle-christopher
isabelle-christopher

Christoper Dean and Isabelle Duchesnay married in May 1991

Explaining that his former wife had "struggled to understand our relationship," Jayne told The Mirror, "I think she wanted more of him than he could give her and she didn't get that he had a loyalty to me and our partnership."

Following his skating partner's answer, Chris agreed: "We've always been best friends. We know what the other is thinking."

christopher-dean-jayne-torvill
christopher-dean-jayne-torvill

In 2014, Jayne Torvill revealed that her close friendship and partnership with Christopher Dean had impacted his marriage to Isabelle

According to reports, after their divorce, Isabelle had said: "I felt that he had two women in his life. Because his work was more important, that automatically made Jayne more important because she was his work."

While many have speculated on the nature of Christopher and Jayne's relationship, the pair has never actually dated, although they have kissed before. During a Radio Times interview, Jayne admitted: "We did actually kiss once – before we were a skating couple. We were in the back of the bus going to a league match, and it just happened. It was a one-off. We never talked about it afterwards. We laugh about it now."

torvill-dean-dancing
torvill-dean-dancing

Despite working together for years, Christoper Dean and Jayne Torvill have never dated

Jayne has been happily married to her husband, and American sound engineer, ​​Phil Christensen since 1990. They share two children – Kieran and Jessica, who are both adopted. Meanwhile, Christopher has been in a relationship with former Dancing On Ice judge, Karen Barber, for over a decade.

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