Chloe Madeley Opens Up About the Difficulties in Her Marriage to James Haskell and the Reason for Their Split

Chloe Madeley has revealed that the last year of her marriage to James Haskell was ‘awful’, ‘dark’ and ‘painful’. 

James, 39, and Chloe, 37, who married in 2018 and share daughter Bodhi, two, confirmed they had split in a joint statement released in October last year. 

The daughter of This Morning presenter Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan has now told why she will never go into too much detail about why they split but said their daughter was her main motivation for leaving the marriage.

She told The Sun: ‘When you tell people that you are divorcing, everyone sees it as such a negative thing.

‘They say: ‘This is going to be so hard for you.’ And, yes, it is, but the hardest bit was when we were married. The last year of the marriage was awful. It was so dark, painful, and one of the worst periods of my life. It’s a good thing we ended it.

‘It was so incredibly scary. I’m amazed I got through it in the way that I did. I think more people should see it as a positive thing. I’m so proud of myself and so relieved that I actually called it a day.’

Chloe Madeley has revealed that the last year of her marriage to James Haskell was ‘awful’, ‘dark’ and ‘painful’

James, 39, and Chloe, 37, who married in 2018 and share daughter Bodhi, two, confirmed they had split in a joint statement released in October last year

She added that she will never go into detail about what caused the split in order to protect her daughter and parents from the ‘dark and painful experiences’ she has been through.

But Bodhi was the main reason she left her marriage as she didn’t want her daughter growing up seeing their relationship and thinking that was normal.

Chloe has now started dating again but ‘nothing feels right’ for her yet – as she admitted James has been seeing other people and ‘having fun’. 

James and Chloe split last October.

The couple who had starred in their own ITV reality show Chloe Madeley: A Family Affair, announced: ‘Chloe and I mutually decided separate at the end of September, 2023.’

‘We had not planned on releasing a statement at this time – certainly not while the television show was airing – but constant speculation about our marriage has, unfortunately, forced our hand.’

She added: ‘Beyond this statement, we will not be speaking about this matter publicly, and we would request privacy at this time.’

‘Our sole focus now is our beautiful daughter. We shall continue to co-parent with nothing but love.’

The daughter of This Morning presenter Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan has now told why she will never never go into detail about why they split

She has said in a new interview: ‘The last year of the marriage was awful. It was so dark, painful, and one of the worst periods of my life. It’s a good thing we ended it’

Chloe has now started dating again but ‘nothing feels right’ for her yet – as she admitted James has been seeing other people and ‘having fun’

Sharing his own statement to Instagram, James added: ‘It’s with a lot of sadness I write this post, but unfortunately, in the world we live in, it has to be done.’

‘My priority is my daughter’s and Chloe’s happiness and security. For that reason, I won’t be commenting any further.’

In May of this year, Chloe opened up about how her separation from her estranged husband ‘was f***ing awful’ as she gave an insight into their relationship.

Chloe admitted the pair broke up as they both wanted their relationship to ‘stop being awful’ and ‘miserable’.

After their split, the couple still lived together in their north London home and were often spotted together with Bodhi as they tried to be as amicable as they could for their little girl.

Despite some fans thinking the two were back together because of this, Chloe previously confirmed that they had both moved on adding that she expects the former England player to find someone soon.

She said: ‘It’ll probably happen for James long before it happens to me if it hasn’t already.’

‘I’m waiting for the conversation to happen at some point.’

Tensions were high before the couple split, with Haskell even claiming Chloe treats him ‘like a dog’ and likened their relationship to ‘World War Three’.

In one episode of their reality show before their split was announced, Haskell moaned: ‘She shushes me like I’m a dog or like I’m a baby. I’m like “shush me again and that’s the last thing you’ll ever do”.’

She went on to explain: ‘The difficulty in mine and James’ relationship comes from the fact that both of us think we’re in charge.

Bodhi was the main reason she left her marriage as she didn’t want her daughter growing up seeing their relationship and thinking that was normal

‘[In] the relationships that I know are very calm and tranquil there’s a dominant and there’s a submissive [partner].

‘James and I are both dominant so obviously it’s like World War Three.’

During the recording of their podcast, Chloe revealed she and Haskell attended couples therapy in a bid to save their marriage.

She explained: ‘We went through a really hard time in lockdown – our marriage was really quite tested’, which prompted Haskell to quip ‘it’s not much better now!’