Ben Cohen’s ex-wife Abby ‘regrets spending five years crying’ after he left her for Kristina Rihanoff as she moves on
BEN Cohen's ex-wife Abby has admitted she regrets spending so many years crying over him after their marriage fell apart.
Abby's life came crashing down when former rugby player Ben left her and ended up in a relationship with his Strictly Come Dancing partner Kristina Rihanoff.
Mum-of-two Abby recently revealed that she has found happiness again after meeting new boyfriend Dave Warner, and described him as her "perfect man".
But she still very much remembers the heartache, and has revealed how she navigated through the pain.
"Once I began to accept that I couldn't change things, I started to feel better and the sun came out," she explained in her interview with the Daily Mail.
"I think my biggest regret is spending all those years crying — I don't know how my body produced as many tears as it did."
Abby, 41, continued: "My whole world fell apart when Ben made the decision to end our marriage. It's like a bus has hit you. I was broken — completely broken.
"One moment you're a family unit, the next you not only lose your husband but your children when they're with their dad."
Abby and Ben were still very much a married couple when he was paired up with Russian dancer Kristina on the BBC show back in 2013.
However, the following year Ben and Abby were estranged and their divorce was finalised in March 2016 - two months after Kristina announced she was pregnant with Ben's child.
Not wanting to bad mouth her ex-husband, Abby explained that Ben is a great father to their twin daughters Harriette and Isabelle.
"He's a great dad to them," she admitted. "All I'll say is, I was married to Ben and he got paired up with a dancer and now he's with that dancer.
"I'd supported this man throughout his career. We were going to grow old together but Ben chose a different path and I didn't fit in with that, sadly. I was left behind."
She added: "It took me a long time to accept, as it would any woman who has married her childhood sweetheart.
"It was like I was lost in a boat at sea, not knowing where the shore was. There was a huge storm and I wanted to find dry land but I didn't know which way to go."
Thankfully, Abby has seen the light now and has since made a career out of her passion for photography.
Posting a picture of her and new man Dave at the beginning of March, Abby couldn't have looked happier.
She captioned it: "Windy, Rainy, Sunshine & this perfect man!"
The pair met on a dating app and have been seeing each other for a few months.
Abby and Dave enjoyed their first date at a pub, and it went so well that Abby admits she knew she had met someone special.
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"Within minutes of meeting him, I knew it was going to be good. He's tall, dark and handsome but it was more than that. His kind and thoughtful nature was what bowled me over — we clicked," she explained.
"I knew I'd met someone I could fall in love with again, which I'd thought I never could. I just knew. As Ben used to tell me, my intuition is always right.
"But I'm no longer the Abby Ben married. I'm very different. I have so much more confidence."