Olivia Attwood has spoken out on her years of ‘unhappy relationships’ as she admits she felt ‘disconnected’ from her husband Bradley Dack before their shock split.
The TV personality, 34, confirmed she had separated from the footballer in an emotional statement this month, with reports claiming their marriage ended after he ‘crossed a line’ and ‘breached her trust’.
Speaking on Jamie Laing’s podcast Great Company in an episode recorded before she announced her split, Olivia admitted the couple had had a difficult year, requiring them both to put in a lot of hard work.
In telling comments, the Love Island star explained how she spent years in back-to-back ‘unhappy’ relationships because she was ‘afraid of being alone’, but cautioned: ‘When you’re in an unhappy relationship, it’s actually the loneliest place to be.’
Still wearing her wedding ring in the episode, Olivia spoke about her marriage, admitting that she has always been open about her relationships issues as ‘a lot of people will relate to the kind of year that Brad and I had’.
She added: ‘When you’re young married people that have their careers and they’re both high pressure and you’re doing your thing, it’s so easy to become disconnected.’
Olivia Attwood has spoken out on her years of ‘unhappy relationships’ as she admits she felt ‘disconnected’ from her husband Bradley Dack before their shock split
Olivia confirmed she had split from Bradley in an emotional statement this month, with reports claiming their marriage ended after the footballer ‘crossed a line’ and ‘breached her trust’
‘But I think it’s like some big dirty secret that no one wants to kind of really talk about. But actually when I talked about it, the amount of people that came and messaged.
‘Relationships are work and I don’t mean they should be laborous and they should drain you, but you do have to actively put into them.’
Admitting she was in a happy place at the time of the recording, Olivia reflected that that is due to feeling ‘a lot more in control of my own life, my own happiness. I think that I spent a lot of years actually being afraid to be alone.’
‘One of the most powerful things that you can harness in this life is to be comfortable with yourself because that’s the only person that’s there at the beginning and will be there at the end,’ she said.
‘It’s a freedom and that’s one of the most valuable things that I put effort into working on and now I love it. I almost love it too much.’
She admitted that, ‘I spent so many years locking myself in really unhappy relationships in my late teens, 20s that the idea of being alone was much more terrifying than not just being with someone.
‘So I overlapped relationships constantly, they kind of rolled from one to the other because I always wanted to make sure that I was never what I felt like was alone.
‘But actually when you’re in an unhappy relationship, it’s actually the loneliest place to be when you’re with someone that don’t like each other on like a friendship level, that is so lonely.’
Speaking on Jamie Laing’s podcast Great Company in an episode recorded before she announced her split, Olivia admitted the couple had had a difficult year; pictured without her wedding ring on Tuesday night
In telling comments, the Love Island star explained how she spent years in back-to-back ‘unhappy’ relationships because she was ‘afraid of being alone’
Later in the podcast Olivia spoke about her relationships with her parents and explained how their enduring marriage has inspired her.
‘I’ve never heard my dad talk negatively about my mum,’ she said. ‘He is unbelievable… He would never falter on his loyalty to my mum.
‘So I thought, “How has this been my example of a man and yet I’ve let so many rat bags slip in…” I didn’t know that men could be bad. I was always presented with awful behavior and I guess I was blindsided by it and I didn’t know how to navigate it.
‘Now as an adult woman I look at my dad and think, “I won’t settle for anything less.”‘
Olivia has not been wearing her wedding ring since the marriage split was revealed while Bradley has firmly kept his on.
When the couple first met at a nightclub in 2015, Olivia was working as a grid girl while Bradley’s football career was off to a promising start, having been named Young Player of the Season at his club Gillingham FC.
While the couple split after three months, they rekindled in 2017. Yet since they’ve been together, Olivia’s star power has continued to rise, while Bradley’s career has somewhat stagnated.
Now Olivia boasts an estimated £6million net worth while Bradley’s is a million less, with friends telling the Daily Mail that this could have contributed to their split.
‘In the beginning of their relationship he was obviously the big earner as a footballer, and she now firmly stands on her own two feet,’ the source shared.
‘She doesn’t need him at all anymore, she can be totally independent.’
Admitting she was in a happy place at the time of the recording, Olivia reflected that that is due to feeling ‘a lot more in control of my own life, my own happiness’
Newly-single Olivia explained on Instagram this week that she has been overthinking what she posts on social media
In a new Instagram post this week the star explained she has been overthinking what she posts on social media as she addressed her absence with fans.
She wrote: ‘Hi dolls – I have been so overthinking posting?? So I’m ripping the bandaid off. Lol I feel like someone has reached into my body and stolen my personality (thank god I have more than one)
‘I’m pouring every inch of what I have into work but I don’t want you guys to think I have forgotten you. I see your messages and I love you xxxx.’
Having poured her heart and soul into her work over the last few months, Olivia is set to host ITVX’s latest cooking competition, The Heat.
