DANCING on Ice playboy Ricky Hatton may have met his match in new flame Claire Sweeney, whose love life has had so many ups and downs she even wrote a musical about it.
We revealed the Coronation Street star, 52, and former boxer, 45, have been spotted looking loved up on a string of dates, just weeks after she insisted she was embracing single life and taking inspiration from her nan... who found true-love when she was 86.
Claire told a podcast: “I’ve always been very self-sufficient. I’m not someone who needs to have a boyfriend. And, look, my grandma met the love of her life when she was 86 – he was her 74-year-old toyboy.
"She married him and at her 100th birthday she said, ‘This man’s kept me alive with love and laughter.’ They laughed every day. And I thought, if I have to wait that long to meet the right person, and make the right choice, so be it.”
But all that appears to have changed since Claire and Ricky met on Dancing on Ice and were spotted enjoying each other’s company on two nights out in Manchester and Liverpool last weekend.
Dad-of-three Ricky has been linked with several glamorous women since his 2016 split from ex-fiancee Jennifer Dooley, including Playboy models Carla Howe and Chelsea Claire.
But Claire has also had to deal with a chequered love life of her own.
Back in 2020, Claire was spotted lunching at London celeb haunt The Ivy with her son Jaxon - and a mystery man.
He was later revealed to be businessman and convicted fraudster John Disley, who was known as the ‘King of Marbella’ for his lavish lifestyle on the Costa del Sol.
Disley earned the nickname after splashing out on a £2million yacht, which he moored in millionaires’ playground Puerto Banus.
He was a regular at the strip's swanky bars and restaurants, and would drive along the waterfront in a £450,000 armoured Rolls-Royce Phantom.
Back in the UK, he had a £2million Hertfordshire farmhouse, complete with a personalised indoor pool, tennis courts and a cinema room.
But in reality he was bankrupt and had funded his lavish spending through bounced cheques – which he was eventually jailed for.
In December 2014, the Bolton-born former bouncer Disley admitted one count of conspiracy to defraud and was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
Sources close to Disley said the couple had been an item for a year, enjoying lavish holidays in Barbados and Paris.
But a friend of Claire's told : "Claire happened to bump into him on Sunday with her son and they went out together in Chelsea. There is nothing more to it."
Claire scored with West Bromwich Albion goalie Alan Miller back in 1998.
The pair were introduced in Manchester by their mutual pal and Albion fan, former Corrie star Matthew Marsden.
They hit it off straight away and even moved in together in a trendy Liverpool waterfront apartment.
Friends expected them to tie the knot, but the pair finally split in 2001 after three years together.
They both claimed the break-up was amicable with nobody else involved, with Alan saying at the time: “We had some great times together and we were very happy most of the time.
"Our break-up is just one of those things and we are still friends.”
My ideal partner would be very different to the wild types I used to date years ago; I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole now
But there were reports of a furious holiday bust up between the pair a couple of years later when Claire saw Alan on a date with Abi Titmuss, with onlookers in Majorca claiming she shouted: “What on earth are you doing with her?”
The former couple did remain friends, and Claire sent her condolences to his partner and family when he sadly died from a heart attack in 2021 aged just 51.
Before Claire became one of the very first Celebrity Big Brother housemates back in 2001, she admitted she had a soft spot for one of her fellow contestants, Boyzone’s Keith Duffy, saying: “If he’s up for a snog, I’m up for it.”
The slight issue for Claire was that Keith was happily married to sweetheart Lisa Smith.
But that didn’t stop the Brookside star and singer being dogged by rumours of an “affair” when they were spotted out on the town in Dublin together after leaving the Big Brother house.
When asked about his relationship with Claire, Duffy cut the rumours dead, storming: "I'm a happily married man and a father of two young children.
";Nothing is going on with me and Claire. My wife Lisa is very upset by these stories."
The former Brookside star dated businessman Tony Hibbard for six years before they sadly called it quits in 2007.
Introduced by a neighbour, Claire said at the time: "I got more than a cup of sugar from my neighbour.
"I knew pretty quickly after meeting him that he was important."
During their split they were seen in 'crisis talks' at an Indian restaurant and later seen out for a drink. It was his pals who collected his belongings in bin liners.
Claire found love once more with Daniel Reilly, 14 years her junior and they got engaged on Christmas Eve in 2012.
The actress had always wanted to be a mum, but tragically the couple suffered two miscarriages before they split in 2014.
But just weeks later Claire was overjoyed to discover she was pregnant, and the pair rekindled their romance.
Son Jaxon was born in September 2014 and Claire said Daniel was an amazing, hands-on dad.
But sadly, just nine months after the happy event, Claire and Daniel, once again called off their romance.
In a statement Claire explained: 'Whilst we have decided not to remain together we are committed to bringing up our wonderful son and making sure we are great parents and supporting each other to achieve that.’
Speaking after the split, she said Jaxon was her number one priority and any man who came into her life would have to be a good influence.
She added: "So my ideal partner would be very different to the wild types I used to date years ago; I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole now."
Given the ups and downs of her love life, Claire had plenty of material when it came to putting pen to paper to write her own musical about dating disasters.
Claire said she took inspiration from the traumatic tales of romance of herself and her friends - and then exaggerated them to create the stage show Sex in Suburbia.
She told ITV’s Lorraine back in 2015: "A friend of mine came home one day and found her boyfriend in a ra-ra dress.
"We thought, 'Okay, let's look into that', and we turned it into a positive story!"
"There's also a character in it called Cheryl, who wants to find Mr Right. She goes from one disastrous date to the next, and she wants a baby... That was my kind of story."
