I’m not unlucky in love, it’s them. I just don’t want to settle.. I’d love to find The One
DANCING ON ICE STEPHANIE’S HARD LINE ON ROMANCE
There is one phrase that haunts Dancing on Ice star Stephanie Waring – unlucky in love. Since the public bust up when Corrie’s Kym Marsh began dating her ex, soap star Steph has been seen as something of a poster girl for unhappy ever afters.
But with the big 4-0 looming, the mum-of-two has a message for anyone feeling sorry for her... no matter how much she would love a dream wedding, she’ll only do it if she finds the right fella.
“It’s so unfair when people call me unlucky in love – and really frustrating,” she says. “If I meet someone and I’m happy and in love I will go to the ends of the Earth to make it work. But if I’m not I will end it and I will move on.
“I just don’t want to settle. I want to find the right person for me. And I’m not the one who’s unlucky in love – it’s them.”
Steph has reason to sound feisty. She has had a string of relationships in the limelight, including with the dads of her two girls, and most recently a six-month transatlantic fling with ex-EastEnders star Michael Greco, 47, who lives in LA.
“I’m very fond of him but it wasn’t right so I ended it,” she says. “A lot of people thought it was the other way round but that’s not true. Long distance doesn’t work for me.”
More recently she was linked with Hollyoaks co-star Adam Woodward, 30. She says: “He’s great looking, but we are just close friends.”
Finally, she giggles about kissing rugby union ace and fellow Dancing on Ice contestant Max Evans, 34, after a boozy night last month. “He’s like a big lovable puppy and we were just having a bit of fun. He’s not for me.”
So, having also dated Natasha Hamilton’s businessman ex-husband Riad Erraji in the past few years, what is Steph looking for? And would she want a brother or sister for daughters Mia, 12, and Lexi, seven?
“I’ve always said no to more children,” says Steph, 39. “But now I’d love to find The One and maybe have a child with that person and give them a family.
“Yet I don’t want to settle. And I don’t care what people think. I’ve never been married but that’s why. I want to find that one person and do it once.”
One bloke she binned in style was Rick Shore, 27, who she split from in 2015 after reports he had been messaging another woman. When he sent her flowers, she filmed herself drop-kicking them and posted the footage on Twitter.
“In my 20s, if a relationship wasn’t right and I didn’t want to hurt them, I’d stay in that relationship,” says Steph. “Now I’m like, ‘It isn’t right for me, and I’ve not got a lot of time’. I don’t want to be 50 going down the aisle.”
There is another landmark looming first. She turns 40 in February. “I don’t
I’ve not got a lot of time. I don’t want to be 50 going down the aisle
want to be 40. I think I’ll cry,” Steph says. “I’ve always looked very young. “When I was 17, I got in Disney World’s Magic Kingdom for the price of a nine-year-old. Now I’m 40, but I just don’t feel it.” She has been alternating between “hiding under a duvet” or throwing a party for her pals from Ch4 soap Holly-
A lot would get their back up but if he wasn’t tough on me I would not learn
oaks, in which she has played Cindy Cunningham on and off for 21 years.
If things go well on Dancing on Ice – and she plans to skate her way to the final – she may have no choice but to share her birthday with the nation.
She will be one of the contestants when the ITV1 series returns in January and she has already had propartner Sylvain Longchambon teaching her how to do the Dirty Dancing lift. “I want to learn all the lifts so I’m prepared,” she says. “I’m waking up at 6am, buzzing to go to the rink. It’s become a deep love already.”
Steph is covered in bruises and has a bandaged hand. “I had it looked at because I couldn’t close it, then I fell on it again,” she says laughing. “But it’s part and parcel of the experience. The only thing I’m scared of is breaking something – because it will cancel me out for the whole run.” Determined Steph likes the fact Sylvain, 37, is a very hard taskmaster.
“A lot of people would get their back up,” she admits. “But if he wasn’t tough on me I wouldn’t learn.”
Isn’t there an elephant in the room, however? Steph and Sylvain knew each other from when he was dating her friend and Hollyoaks co-star Jennifer Metcalfe. Sylvain split from Jen in 2013 and got together with another skating partner, Corrie’s Samia Ghadie.
“It’s not been awkward with Jen,” insists Steph. “She told me, ‘He’s a very strong dancer and you’re in good hands’. I’m Switzerland in the whole thing.” So Jen, 35, really doesn’t mind? “That’s nothing to do with me,” says Steph. “I’m so happy I’ve got Sylvain. He’s one of the best on the show. And I love the fact I knew him before. It’s just easier to be with him.
“So I’m not arsed. This is not about them. It’s about me and Sylvain and getting to that final. And winning it.”
There’s a flash of the Steph who drop-kicked those flowers. Born in Urmston, Greater Manchester, she joined Hollyoaks in 1996.
Her character Cindy has been wed six times, battled bipolar, had many affairs and been involved with murders. In real life, Steph and former co-star Davinia Taylor were selfconfessed party girls back in the day, and she became a lads’ mag pin-up.
During a break from Hollyoaks between 2004 and 2008, she filmed in Australia, had a brief stint in Corrie as a single mum and was considering trying her luck in LA when she got pregnant with Mia, by Dan Jillings.
After having Lexi, Steph suffered postnatal depression. “It feels like a big blur,” she says. “I feel like a different person now.” Kym Marsh, 41, began dating her ex six weeks after he and Steph split. Now that Kym has moved on, they have patched things up.
“I saw her a month ago. We’ve got a nice relationship now,” says Steph. “There’s hindsight. I shouldn’t have publicly said what I felt. But I couldn’t see the wood for the trees.”
Steph adds: “I would like to find someone who’s not in the business... and I have chemistry with.”
In the meantime, any thoughts of falling head over heels are on hold as she aims not to stumble on the ice.
Steph is in C 4’s Hollyoaks weekdays at 6.30pm and Dancing on Ice, ITV1, from Sunday, January 7.