New Year, new start, as Ben looks to be pals again with Una after break-up

THEIRS was one of the shock splits of 2018 as their ten-year relationship came to an end amid allegations of cheating. Yet Ben Foden is insistent that, despite being the supposed culprit and famously being seen using dating app Bumble before announcing the divorce, he and Una Healy are ‘civil’ and that he hopes they are still ‘friends’.

He also added, in a recent chat with Now magazine, that he wants her and their two children to visit him in New York, after he moves there this week.

All this comes as Una, 37, announced before Christmas that she has a new boyfriend: Limerick hurler David Breen.

Ben, pictured far right with Una and their children in 2017, said: ‘Our relationship is actually quite good. I stay at the family home whenever I want to see the kids. We’re keeping it civil and hopefully we can remain friends. We’ll always have a future because she’s the mother of my children.’

Foden, who married Una in 2012, went on to add: ‘I signed for New York Rugby United so things are going to change. It’s just exciting – a different change of pace, something that’s really needed.

‘I’m sure Una wouldn’t mind a little holiday in New York. She’ll drop the kids with me and then she can go and enjoy the sights.’

Una and Ben have two children: Aoife, who was born just before the couple married, and Tadhg who was born in 2015. But the couple confirmed their separation in July amid claims that Ben had strayed.

Just before Christmas, Una posted a picture of herself and new beau David to Instagram, above. She captioned the shot, ‘I have tried to hide him but he’s too tall.’

Meanwhile, as Una prepared to take to the airwaves yesterday evening, she said she was ‘so excited’ to plunge into the new year after a tumultuous 2018.

She returns to Virgin Media One’s Six O’Clock Show as a guest presenter and the multi-talented Tipperary singer will host the programme for the week.

‘I’m so excited to be back on the Six sofa to kick-start the New Year with a bang,’ the former Saturdays star said ahead of her stint.

The mother-of-two is stepping in for Muireann O’Connell.