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Louise Redknapp is refusing to give up on her marriage to her soccer pundit hubby Jamie, telling pals: “it’s not over for good.”
The Strictly star was pictured returning to the UK last week for showdown talks – still wearing her wedding ring. The couple have yet to comment on reports their 19-year marriage is in trouble. But a friend said the 42-year-old former Eternal singer was finding Jamie, 44, “stale” and “becoming an older man too soon.”
The pal added: “Louise is having a bit of a mid-life crisis and wants to be a young hip woman. Jamie is content to watch telly and eat his meal on a TV tray, then off to bed.” Louise has moved out of the couple’s mansion in Oxshott, Surrey, and is living 15 minutes away. The friend said: “She wants him to wake up and smell the coffee. Leaving him is her way of saying, ‘This is serious.’
“Louise told us that her and Jamie are still unbelievably close and in constant communication. But she needs more out of him.” Jamie and Louise have not been seen together in months. This week the singer took a trip to Mallorca with their two sons and a female friend, leaving Jamie at home.
Yesterday it emerged they had put a sunshine villa they own there up for sale. But despite the reported problems, pals are confident they can salvage their relationship.
The source said: “This isn’t closure for her, it’s a kind of test. They will end up coming back together – that’s the consensus amongst their mates. “They’re a strong family, brilliant parents and they don’t want to lose that solidarity. But Jamie really has become dull. Louise wants to gee him up.” The cracks in the relationship were said to have begun after Louise’s stint on Strictly Come Dancing, with the gruelling training regime forcing the couple to spend a lot of time apart.
Louise was joint runner-up with ex-Hollyoaks actor Danny Mac in December’s final of the BBC1 show. That was followed by a 30-date live tour. And from September, she will be in a threemonth touring production of Cabaret, alongside Will Young, making her stage debut as Sally Bowles. Reports this week have suggested it was Louise’s bond with fellow Strictly star Daisy Lowe, 28, that helped to drive her and Jamie apart – as the singer got a taste once more for the showbiz lifestyle she had given up to be a mum. Meanwhile Louise’s mother-in-law Sandra Redknapp is said by pals to have been left devastated by the split.
She told friends it has added to a “year of hell”, during which she was also accidentally run over by football manager husband husband Harry, damaging ligaments in her leg.
Earlier this month it was revealed Harry himself had had a cancer scare. The 70-year-old Birmingham City manager had a tumour removed from his bladder which proved to be non-malignant. Jamie and Louise met through mutual pal Robbie Williams when Louise’s band Eternal supported Take That. They have often been hailed as one of showbiz’s strongest marriages. While Louise flew with sons Charley, 12, and Beau, eight, to Mallorca, Jamie stayed home to film for Sky 1 series A League of Their Own. This week he pulled out of a press day to promote the panel show alongside castmates James Corden and Jack Whitehall. But on Friday night he was all smiles as he joined a group of pals for a night out in London’s Soho to celebrate the end of filming. Joined by comic Jack, 29, and others he knocked back drinks and danced the night away at trendy nightspot MNKY HSE. Clubbers said he looked relaxed, joking with mates including Tamara Ecclestone’s partner Jay Rutland and Essex businessman Adam Brooks.