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I thought he was the one but Nathan broke my heart and blocked me – now he won’t look at me, says MAFS’ Lacey Martin
Lacey insists the failed relationship has had a negative impact on her health
MARRIED At First Sight’s Lacey Martin was convinced she’d found the man of her dreams when she left the TV experiment in a relationship with Nathan Campbell.
The pair spent the entire recent series of MAFS UK together as the nation’s sweethearts and looked destined to have a happy future after making their final vows.
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But their seemingly perfect romance suffered a fatal blow when Nathan failed to support Lacey’s Race For Life fundraiser, which she did in memory of her late uncle, who died from the disease, and her mum, Maxine, who also had cancer.
When she called Nathan out for failing to wish her well, rather than apologise, he simply blocked her from his life and they have barely spoken since.
Six months on, Lacey is still devastated by the shock snub and is questioning whether Nathan’s feelings towards her were ever real at all.
In her first interview about their split, a tearful Lacey told us: “I genuinely didn't think he would do this to me. What we had was so real and special.
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“Nathan always used to say to me, ‘oh, this is the relationship I've always wanted’, in terms of always laughing together, always dancing together.
“I could be my full self and he could be his, and I accepted him for him.”
Lacey, whose twin sister Paige has ADHD like Nathan, researched the condition and how it affects relationships in a bid to strengthen their connection and to help avoid unnecessary blips.
“He's never had anyone, from what he told me, that's really gone above and beyond,” said Lacey. “And I just feel like, what thanks do I get? He's just blocked me, like I'm nothing, and that's what really hurts.
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“I did try and make Nathan realise that when I've tried to reach out, like, even the strongest couples argue, you know, but to completely withdraw and block me has broke my heart because despite our relationship, we had a good friendship and I just felt like I didn't deserve how he treated me.”
Initially, Lacey hoped that by suggesting they might be better off as friends Nathan would be fired up to get back in her good graces.
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Instead, the opposite happened and to this day, she’s still not had closure from him beyond his wish for them to have ‘positive vibes’.
When they reunited at a cast party last week, Lacey said Nathan couldn’t even bring himself to look at her.
“If he sees me come in, he goes into another room,” she said. “He don't look at me.”
“At the minute, I'm just focusing on me and pouring the love into myself.
“My mental health has gone really bad since this relationship, because he was my best friend. It's like you're grieving a person that's still alive because you went from 100 to zero, basically.
“I'm sitting here crying because we had such a good relationship and genuinely had feelings. And I feel like if you genuinely love someone, why would you want to let them go? Like, you would fight.
“I just feel like I don't recognise him anymore. I'm just hurt because I just feel like he didn't appreciate me in the end.
“And I really put myself out there to understand him, you know, the best I could. And I just thought, what have I got for it? I gave him my all. I genuinely did.”
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There had been signs prior to the Race For Life incident that all was not well.
Lacey said Nathan was beginning to “withdraw” from the relationship and would no longer take her on dates, leave her love notes or buy flowers.
When it came to her close friend from the show Holly Ditchfield’s birthday party, Lacey said Nathan was more concerned about Holly’s partner Alex attending and having to address issues from the TV show than he was about enjoying it with her.
And it’s not just Lacey who has been devastated by the way things have panned out, her family are too.
Her spiritual mum, who starred in a number of episodes, felt such a connection with Nathan that she gifted him a glass scorpion ornament she’d initially bought for her late brother, who was a Scorpio like Nathan.
She also regularly rustled up vegetarian dishes for Nathan and adapted family meal times.
Despite the way she’s been treated, Lacey says if Nathan were to make contact, apologise and offer to make a go of things, she would readily give it another shot.
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“I think I would, yeah,” she said. “Because of how special we had it, and I did fall in love.
“I just feel like he owes me an explanation, instead of just saying positive vibes only.”
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