Dancing On Ice’s Vanessa Bauer trying to ‘rise above’ love triangle row with Wes Nelson’s ex Megan Barton Hanson
DANCING on Ice star Vanessa Bauer is refusing to get in a spin over a love triangle row with partner Wes Nelson’s ex Megan Barton Hanson, her father has revealed.
Love Island’s Megan, 24, and 20-year-old Wes split soon after Vanessa told of her own break-up.
Jealous Megan railed at her on Instagram: “Love that you decide to announce your break-up with your boyfriend on the night of your 1st performance with my boyfriend!
“Hope the tactical break-up got you the headlines you wanted babe.”
Rows escalated, Wes went into a hotel and Megan declared online on January 26 that it was all over.
But The Sun on Sunday can reveal Vanessa, 22, had secretly parted from circus performer boyfriend Louis Nathaniel weeks before her own announcement — when she had known Wes for just a few days.
German Vanessa’s dad Marco, 59, said: “Vanessa is trying to rise above the situation, ignore the jibes and carry on skating.
"She would never dump a boyfriend to get attention. That’s not the kind of girl she is.
“The truth is she separated from Louis in December. We were sad about it because we liked him a lot.
“Vanessa is not seeing her ice skating partner. Her only focus is on being at her best and trying to win this competition.”
Mum Yayun, 48, said Vanessa split from Louis, her boyfriend of three years, after he took a job on a cruise ship.
It would mean him being away from their home in Hemel Hempstead, Herts, for six months.
She said: “They agreed it was best to separate. But they are still friends. All of these allegations flying round are completely ridiculous.”
Marco added: “Ice skating is Vanessa’s passion and once she sets her mind on something, nothing can stop her.
“Wes obviously has potential and my daughter is enjoying dancing with him. She believes she can go on to win the tournament. That’s it.”
The couple spoke at their home in Berlin — a tiny rented flat in the gritty district of Spandau — where they are surrounded by the glittering prizes Vanessa has won.
The costs of training as a skater mean it is mainly a hobby for rich kids. Yet her dad was a carer for special needs children before he retired and her Indonesian-born mum was a nursery assistant.
The couple were often short of money for Vanessa and her brother Dennis, now 20 — so paying for her £20-an-hour ice skating lessons was well beyond their means.
They enrolled her into the BSV 1892 skating club but Marco said: “Her skating life became a series of negotiations. They asked for 200 euros, I would offer one hundred.
“They asked this, I countered with that. If the demands were too high I said, fine, we are leaving.
“But they never wanted Vanessa to quit. They saw that she was a supremely talented little girl and she is.
"People watching Dancing on Ice should know how hard she has had to work to get where she is.”
Ukrainian-born skater Lena Lazarenko, who had moved to Germany, spotted her when she was five and agreed to give her free lessons.
Marco went on: “We would have had to spend tens of thousands if people had not offered to train her and kit her out for next-to-nothing.
“Yayun and I simply didn’t have that kind of money.”
The training was gruelling too — at least five hours a day on ice, on top of regular schoolwork.
Marco said: “She got up at 4am to traipse across the city in all kinds of weather to be on the ice by 6am. Skating has always been her focus over boys.
“She was just four when one day she said, ‘I want to go ice skating!’
“We took her to a public rink and hired skates, and I bent my legs this way and that in a crude attempt to show her what to do.
“But I needn’t have bothered. She hit the ice and was off! A complete natural.
“She announced before her sixth birthday that she wanted to be a professional ice skater. She never wavered. That was it.”
Vanessa got straight A grades at school but aged 17 decided to take a dancing job on a cruise ship — and it was there she met Louis, 27.
Dancing on Ice producers came calling and last year, in her first year, she won with her reality star partner Jake Quickenden, 30.
Marco revealed that for three years Vanessa has been plagued with fears over his health, as he was diagnosed with cancer of the jaw.
He has been in and out of hospital and she has been flying home to visit him.
Marco added: “She is worried, but I always say she has to focus on her skating. This silly argument will not distract her.
“We are watching her every Sunday and Vanessa will just go from strength to strength.”
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