Denise Van Outen: Pain of heartbreak left me struggling to breathe

Denise Van Outen has said her heartbreak after splitting from Eddie Boxshall left her struggling to breathe.

The TV presenter and actor announced in January she had ended her seven year relationship with the city stockbroker after he admitted being unfaithful.

Van Outen, 48, told Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast: "Heartache is horrible. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you’ve got, it hurts just as deep.

Read more: Denise Van Outen’s ex Eddie Boxshall ‘deeply sorry’ for sexting behind her back

"Those nights of just sitting there on my patio, three, four o’clock in the morning, feeling drained and empty and thinking, 'I don’t know how I’m going to get through the next week', because you just feel so broken, it’s horrible. It hurts. Like, I couldn’t breathe. I felt like someone was sitting on my chest."

The former EastEnders star - who has a daughter with ex-husband Lee Mead and was also previously engaged to Jamiroquai lead singer Jay Kay - revealed she is now having therapy to help her come to terms with the breakdown of her relationships.

Van Outen said: "I think because everything that happened floored me, like literally floored me, I wanted to start to understand why there seems to be a pattern, not just on the other side of it, but on my side.

"I try to fix people, and sometimes it’s to my own detriment. I think that’s what I’m trying to understand."

She added: "I wouldn’t say I’m fully healed, but I am getting there."

Van Outen and Boxshall, 49, met when a friend set them up on a blind date in 2014 and had initially planned to get married in 2021, but postponed the ceremony due to lockdown restrictions.

Boxshall has said he is "deeply sorry" for the sex texts he sent to another woman behind her back, which ended their relationship.

Van Outen said she is "proud" of herself for knowing "when to walk away" from her former fiance.

Van Outen announced that she and Eddie Boxshall were no longer a couple in an Instagram post, saying she, "had to make the difficult decision not to continue in our relationship".

The couple met when one of Van Outen's friends set them up on a blind date. They appeared on Celebrity Gogglebox together as well as taking part in a couples therapy podcast for Yahoo! last year, called Before We Say I Do.

Before meeting Boxshall, Van Outen was married to singer and West End performer Lee Mead, 40, with whom she shares 11-year-old daughter Betsy.

Read more: Denise Van Outen's replacement for ex Boxshall on 'Celebrity Gogglebox' sofa revealed

They were together from 2009 until 2013 but maintain a close relationship, with Van Outen saying in 2019 that they still speak every day.

Before meeting Mead on talent show Any Dream Will Do, Van Outen was in a relationship with Jamiroquai lead singer Jay Kay, 52. They were together for three years and were engaged to be married before their split in 2001.

Watch: Denise Van Outen is proud she walked away from Eddie Boxshall