‘I couldn’t get out of bed’ says Hayley Palmer as she fights tears amid split from The Chase’s Mark Labbett
HAYLEY Palmer has admitted she ‘couldn’t get out of bed’ following her heartbreaking split from Mark Labbett.
The TV presenter was left blindsided when Mark ended things with her abruptly just weeks after they discussed their one-year anniversary live on Loose Women.
Hayley and Mark went their separate ways in May of this year when he told her he no longer wanted to seek a divorce from his estranged wife Katie.
Speaking at the National Reality TV Awards, Hayley opened up on the toll the split had taken on her and how she was looking forward to the future.
In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Hayley said: “I think you go through stages of a break-up and it was…
“It was really hard to begin with and I couldn’t even get out of bed.”
Hayley then took a pause as her voice wavered and she became emotional recalling the break-up during the interview as she quipped: “Don’t start me off.”
Regaining her composure, the brave star, who hosts her own Saturday night interview series, continued: “But then I went through a stage when I was okay, then I went through a stage where I was bursting into tears the other week but now I’m like, ‘Hayley, let’s go, come on you bad b***h’.
Having spent time healing in the wake of her painful split, Hayley added to The Sun that she now feels ready to date again and have fun following a difficult few months.
Referring to her big 43rd birthday bash, she said: “I went out and I just didn’t have a care in the world.
“I felt really good and I’ve just been working so much harder on myself and doing lots of self-love and self-worth work.
“I’ve still been having counselling sessions to keep me on the right track but I feel like now it’s time to just get a toyboy!”
Hayley could be among the next set of stars to sign for E4 hit Celebs Go Dating in a quest to find her toyboy as she confessed: “I think I’d be quite entertaining on there. I can be quite picky!”
“But, yeah, maybe I will go on a date with someone else as I do think I’ve reached that stage now.”
Hayley hasn’t been linked to anyone since her split from Mark.
Hayley and Mark announced their shock split shortly after their first anniversary.
She told fans: “It is with regret I announce that myself and Mark have gone our separate ways.
“We had the best year together and I truly wish him all the best for the future.”
Mark, who has shed ten stone in recent years, married nurse Katie, 31, in 2014.
They went on to have a son but the relationship ended in 2020.
He blamed the 27-year age gap between them and said the lockdown had added to their marital woes.
It later emerged that Katie was seeing a 31-year-old man in a relationship that Mark was aware of.
Mark Labbett and Hayley Palmer relationship timeline
May 16, 2023 – The pair went on their first date to a Toby Carvery in Southsea, Portsmouth.
December 24, 2023 – The couple decided to record a podcast together after being in a relationship for several months. They planned to cover everything from Mark wooing Hayley with his Toby Carvery card to dating in the public eye, shopping trips, their big rule of not sharing chips and hilarious inside jokes.
May 25, 2024 – Mark broke up with Hayley over the phone, saying he wasn’t ready to finalise his divorce with his ex wife Katie.