No big day - but Faye looks ahead
FORMER Coronation Street actress Faye Brookes has been spotted furniture shopping a month after her relationship with fiance Gareth Gates ended. Faye, best known for her role as Kate Connor in Corrie, looked happy as she shopped for a new armchair.
The 33-year-old wore a blue denim dress and strappy wedges for the trip to Authentic Furniture in Matlock, and she looked on good form as she looked towards the future.
The Flixton actress, whose character recently left the cobbles after four years to go travelling, will be spending a lot of time in Birmingham as she prepares for her starring role in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Hippodrome.
But she admits that she is still keeping her roots in Manchester as she prepares to leave her city centre apartment and move to a new home in the area.
Faye and Gareth split in August and and explained how she’d been photographed in a potentially confusing situation.
She explained: “There was a pap outside the gym when I got there, taking pictures of me and getting very excited with his camera because I walked in with one of the trainers from the gym - who is a friend.
“I imagine that suggestions could be made from these that there is more to this. There isn’t. Just let a girl be please.”
The former couple promised to remain friends after reaching a mutual decision to call off their wedding.
According to a source close to Faye and Gareth, they had tried to make their relationship work but realised it wasn’t meant to be.
The source told the Manchester Evening News: “Faye and Gareth are both extremely sad about their relationship ending. They still care very much about each other and want to remain friends, but the wedding has been called off.
“Her family and close friends have been supporting her through the split.
“Although it’s a painful time she’s trying to keep busy with various projects and auditions.
“They tried to make it work but sadly it’s not meant to be.”
Gareth popped the question at a friend’s high-rise apartment in New York with a four-carat diamond ring and a 17-minute song that he had written for Faye.
Their engagement bash in January was at Hotel Gotham on King Street.