Dancing On Ice pro Carlotta’s marriage rift over Maura Higgins ‘came as a shock to her family’

DANCING on Ice star Carlotta Edwards’ marriage rift over Maura Higgins came as a shock to her family, a source has revealed.

Carlotta and Alex Demetriou are on a time-out after he grew close to the Love Island beauty, his partner for the last series.

The two pro dancers, married for four years, had spent Christmas with Carlotta’s parents Nancy and Peter in Canada a few weeks before he started dancing with Maura on the ITV show.

A source said of the visit: “Everything had seemed fine and her family thought they were having a good time.

“Now they think they must have been mistaken.

"No one in her family suspected anything was up between them, so obviously this has all been quite a shock.”

Carlotta, 30, who has taken off her wedding ring, is holed up with a pal in Calgary, Canada, while figuring out what she wants to do about her struggling relationship.

The pair are said to have grown apart over the growing friendship between Alex, 28, and Maura, 29.

A source told The Sun on Sunday: “Carlotta and Alex are having a bit of time out from each other at the moment.

“She is stuck in Calgary due to the coronavirus and has not yet been able to go back home to her family, who live in Port Edward, British Columbia.

The last time she was with them was at Christmas when she went home with Alex.”

The revelations do nothing to dampen speculation that the split is due to Alex’s relationship with Maura in the show — and their marriage is now hanging in the balance.

Our source added: “She’s staying with a friend at the moment, but she’s happy where she is. She wants to keep things private.”

Maura has been in isolation at her home in Essex, where she was pictured this week out jogging in a nearby park.

Alex, meanwhile, has not been seen in public since the show ended.

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