Michelle Keegan's true feelings on Lauren Goodger amid wild Mark Wright claim

Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright are expecting their first baby together but despite being together for 14 years, the couple have long been involved in a war of words with his ex Lauren Goodger

Actor Michelle Keegan once called Lauren Goodger "so cringe" over her history with Mark Wright while the former TOWIE star confessed it made her feel "strange" when she discovered her ex was having a baby.

Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan are preparing for the birth of their first child together after announcing their happy news in December 2024. The couple have been together over 14 years and married for almost 10 of those, in which time they have both worked hard establishing their careers and building their dream mansion in Essex.

Before presenter Mark, 38, met his future wife he was involved in a 12 year on-off relationship with reality star Lauren Goodger, also 38. They met while at school and their volatile relationship was documented in TOWIE, including their engagement in a car park. There were numerous rumours of Mark's infidelity and Lauren's patience ultimately boiled over when she famously pushed him into a swimming pool in one fiery episode.

They split for good in early 2012, the same year he met Coronation Street actor Michelle, 37, which left Lauren heartbroken and more than willing to speak out on her feelings towards her former lover in the years that followed. Mark and Michelle got engaged in 2013 after he proposed on a beach in Dubai and in 2014 Lauren responded to an 'Ask Me Anything' on social media where she stated she made the 'Wright choice over Mark'. This didn’t go down too well with Mark who furiously tweeted: "It's been well over 2 years and it still continues. I find it so disrespectful to myself but more importantly, my fiancée. Be a proper woman. Please leave me out of your public conversations, stop embarrassing yourself. Start having some respect and MOVE ON."

Although Lauren did move on, first with Jake McLean, who tragically died in a car accident in Turkey and then with Charles Drury, who she shares three-year-old daughter Larose with, she recently called Mark the "love of her life". Speaking in a bombshell interview, Lauren claimed her ex must have felt the same way while speaking with dating expert Paul Brunson on his We Need to Talk podcast. She said: "I never ever thought I was going to love anyone else. I was with him for 12 years on and off. It wasn't a smooth sailing relationship. We broke up a few months here, got back together, but we grew up together. We grew up. He was the love of my life. We wouldn't have stayed together for that long if he didn't have this mutual feeling for me."

According to reports, her comments, which came over a decade after their split, didn't go down well with Mark and Michelle. A source told OK! Magazine that the pair were frustrated she continues to bring up their names: "It's not that Michelle can't sympathise with Lauren or is cross with her, she doesn't know her at all, but she doesn't like what she reads when Lauren talks about her. Mark also gets annoyed and he's very protective of his wife and family. He doesn't like them being brought up by Lauren, especially as it was so long ago. It's ancient history for him."

However, Brassic star Michelle once shared her thoughts on Lauren too. Back in 2011, she made a jibe at Lauren and Mark, who were engaged at the time. Michelle wrote in her Love It! magazine column: "I love TOWIE! It's one of those shows you don't want to watch, but just can't help turning on. I don't know how Lauren can take Mark back so easily, though - it's so cringe! I wouldn't be able to get back with someone who'd slept with lots of girls I knew, but that's just me."

Fast forward to Mark and Michelle's baby announcement and Lauren admitted the shock news made her feel odd. She told Closer magazine: "Obviously it's weird at first, isn't it? When you hear that your ex is going to be a dad, it is strange. There was a part of me that was like, 'Oh my god, Mark's having a baby', but I’m happy for him. Mark will always hold a place in my heart because he was my first love, but I’m not jealous and I don’t wish we were together because then I wouldn’t have Larose, and she’s my world."

Lauren went on to have another daughter, Lorena, in 2022 but tragically she passed away just minutes after she was born. She has made no secret of wanting to give Larose another sister or brother but she also discussed falling pregnant with Mark’s baby when she was 19. She decided to have a termination because she felt too young to become a mother then. Mark admitted he was gutted at the time. Lauren reflected: "When I was pregnant at 19, it just wasn’t the right time. We both wanted a baby, but we still lived with our mums! If I was a bit older, I would’ve kept the baby, although it’s mad to think I’d have a 17-year-old now."