Lee Mead finds love again four years after split with Denise Van Outen
FOUR years after the break-up of his marriage to Denise van Outen, Lee Mead has finally found love again - with a woman he met on the school run.
The singer and Holby City star had been single since he and Denise split in 2013, but Lee met new love Issy a year ago in a cafe, after collecting his daughter Betsy from school.
Speaking exclusively to The Sun Online, Lee says: “We went to a local coffee shop and Issy was there with her four year-old son.
“We got on really well, but it was a while before I plucked up the courage to ask her on a date.
“She’s a lovely woman and she’s a parent as well, which I think helps. She’s based in Kent and she’s not in the same business as me; I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing!
“I’m not one to rush into relationships and I was single for six years, but it’s nice to have found someone. We’ve been together just under a year and it’s going really well. We had a nice week-end together recently and we’re very happy.”
Lee, who celebrates a decade in showbusiness with the release of his new album Lee Mead 10 Years, met ex-wife Denise when he entered the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do. He went on to win – the prize being the lead role in the 2007 West End revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
In the same year he began dating Denise, one of Any Dream Will Do’s judges.
The couple wed two years later and their daughter Betsy, now seven, was born in 2010.
The couple announced they had separated in 2013. They divorced two years later and for the past four years Loose Women presenter Denise has been dating city trader Eddie Boxshall.
Lee, 36, who lives in Southend, says: “When any couple split there’s obviously that transitional period where it’s hard. But it’s been five or six years. We’re friends now. Ultimately as parents we both adore Betsy – she’s our whole world - so I think that brings you together.”
Best-known these days as Holby City’s kind-hearted nurse Ben ‘Lofty’ Chiltern, Lee is currently juggling the role with a 10-year anniversary tour at theatres around the UK, where he’s performing songs from his previous albums and some of his favourite West End shows.
“At the moment I’ve got two full-time jobs,” he says. “The last weekend of each month I’ll be on tour and during the week I’ll be in scrubs filming Holby City. It’s a nice balance.”
However the musical theatre star admits that since becoming a dad he has turned down work in order to spend time with Betsy.
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Lee explains: “I love her so much and she comes first, so everything else fits around her.
“I’ve obviously got to work, but I’ve turned down great roles to be at home.
“I was asked to play the lead role in a nationwide tour of Sunset Boulevard recently and it was really hard to say no. I can remember being 17 and dreaming of one day doing those sort of roles.
“But Betsy is seven years-old and you don’t get those years back. It’s important that I’m there for her more. Once she’s grown and off with boyfriends and having her life I can go back on tour again.”
album is released on March 9.
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