The last year of my marriage was awful – we’re all happier now’, Chloe Madeley on why she divorced James Haskell

17 hours ago 7

Sometimes, the best you can do is to just walk away, especially when it would be easier to stay, as Chloe Madeley knows only too well.

The fitness expert left James Haskell – her husband of five years, with whom she shares two-year-old daughter Bodhi – last October.

Fitness personality Chloe Madeley has opened up about divorce, dating and her fitness goals

Chloe with ex James Haskell, who she split from last year, and daughter Bodhi

“When you tell people that you are divorcing, everyone sees it as such a negative thing,” Chloe, 37, explains.

“They say: ‘This is going to be so hard for you.’ And, yes, it is, but the hardest bit was when we were married. The last year of the marriage was awful. It was so dark, painful, and one of the worst periods of my life. It’s a good thing we ended it.

“It was so incredibly scary, especially when you’ve been with someone for 11 years and you have a child together. I’m amazed I got through it in the way that I did. I think more people should see it as a positive thing. I’m so proud of myself and so relieved that I actually called it a day.”

‘Leaving James was the least selfish decision I could have made’

Chloe, who is the daughter of TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, and England rugby player James, 39, announced their separation in October 2023.

‘I told James: “Some guy just grabbed my arse’”

James wrote about the incident in the book he co-authored with Alex Payne and Mike Tindall, The Good, The Bad & The Rugby: “I recently had a call from a supposedly squeaky-clean rugby great who was getting up to all sorts of mischief in a notoriously hedonistic European capital. But I wasn’t at all surprised, because the same guy had propositioned Chloe a few years earlier while I was DJing a few feet away, and his teammate, another supposedly squeaky-clean rugby great, was groping her arse.”

Chloe hasn’t spoken about the incident until now.

“The thing that annoyed me about him writing about this is that I was then going to get asked about it,” she says.

“I want to be careful how I discuss this, as I know it could anger people. I don’t want to belittle anyone else’s awful experiences at the hands of disgusting men and I’d never want to be insensitive. But this incident was such a non-event for me. Everyone had been drinking for hours. It happened so quickly and I was like: ‘OK, some guy just grabbed my arse.’ I told James about it on the way home. He was really good and asked how I felt. I said: ‘Hmm, everyone was really drunk,’ and I honestly never thought about it again until he wrote the book.

Chloe has been keen to meet a new fella, but admits she isn’t sure where to meet a man

“I don’t think it’s OK for men to touch women or say inappropriate things, thinking it’s ‘banter’. But it was one of those situations where I didn’t feel threatened and no trauma was inflicted. It was just a thing that happened. In that particular environment, it wasn’t particularly surprising.

“But I was hesitant to come out and say that. Either I lie and pretend it was really soul-destroying or I tell the truth and look insensitive, which I’m not trying to be. I don’t want to belittle other women’s experiences of having that happen to them and having to unpack trauma afterwards, but that wasn’t the case for me in that situation. That is the truthful answer.”

‘I can sink half a bottle of wine and still get up at 6am to train’

It’s a typically frank response from Chloe, who is just as open about her fitness journey.

“If you’d have told me 12 years ago that I was going to work in fitness, I would have laughed my arse off, but I love it,” she says.

“When I started out, I was working in TV and I was miserable. I had undiagnosed generalised anxiety disorder and was basically a f**king mess. Then I did Dancing On Ice and panto and met my then-boyfriend Danny [Young, 38, an actor turned PT] who wanted to train me. Because I fancied him, I said OK, even though I was dreading it.

“During the first session, I did a barbell back squat and I immediately felt strong and capable, and that was it. I started doing it more and went out less, and my mental health improved. I quit TV and thought: ‘I want to do this for a living.’ Exercise has changed my life. It’s changed my mental health, my body, everything. I am a huge advocate for it.”

It makes Chloe – who now runs exercise facilities The EC Blueprint, as well as her blog Fitness Fondue and her own personal training business – the perfect person to advise on fixing your fitness, as part of our new series, where over the coming weeks, our favourite experts will share their advice on everything from finances to fashion.

“My advice is: action breeds motivation. Look at your lifestyle and be realistic how many days you can commit to the gym – even if it’s one, it doesn’t matter what you do, just do it. The endorphins will kick in so you feel physically and mentally better. Build on it and suddenly, you will start to change your lifestyle, and the motivation will be there.

“When I separated from James, I went through a spell of circumstantial depression. I couldn’t get out or go to the gym, and having to claw that back was so difficult. But within two weeks of getting back into a routine, I was a different person. That’s the reason I keep going to the gym. I’m a happier, healthier person.”

While she is the picture of health, Chloe also likes to enjoy herself.

She says: “I do drink wine, but I can’t metabolise spirits like I used to and the hangovers are awful. But I can sink half a bottle of wine two or three nights a week and get up at 6am and train.

Chloe on a family day out with her brother Jack, parents Judy and Richard, plus her nephew Kit and daughter Bodhi

“I train Monday to Friday – I’m lucky as my gym has a crèche,” she explains.

“But weekends are for me and my daughter, for socialising and catching up with friends.”

‘We are all victims of not feeling good enough’

As someone in the fitness industry, what does she think about the rise of weight-loss injections?

“I’m in a really informed position to talk about GLP-1 injections like Mounjaro, Wegovy and Ozempic, because I coach so many women who are on them,” she says.

“And they’ve changed their lives. For the right person, these drugs should be prescribed easily, especially if they are overweight and struggling to get to the gym. But then they need to be closely monitored by a doctor.

“I struggle with women who are already in a smaller body using the injections and not exercising because they don’t have the energy. I would call that bracket of people using it as ‘an eating disorder in a pen’, and I don’t advocate for that. There needs to be better control for people fiddling their numbers online to get it or buying it on the black market. Ultimately, I have no judgement, as the body-image standards placed on women, whether you’re in a smaller body or a bigger body, are astronomically unachievable. We are all victims of not feeling good enough.”

And as we go into 2025, what are Chloe’s goals?

“After what happened in 2023, it was really about getting back to myself,” she says.

“But now, I’ve got back into physique goals again – I like training and building muscle. I find it motivating, so that’s the plan for this coming year.”