Love is Blind UK star opens up on mental health battle after announcing shock split at show reunion
When hosts Emma and Matt Willis spoke about the matches on Love Is Blind UK, they gushed about “forever couple” Sabrina Vittoria and Steven Smith.
The loved-up pair were the first to become engaged — without ever meeting, as is the show’s premise — and seemed like the perfect match.
They got married in September last year.
So viewers were aghast to learn on Monday night’s reunion special that they lasted just 86 days.
Now brave Sabrina has revealed how the horror marriage break-up left her on medication for depression and anxiety.
She said: “I had to process what I’d lost and that this was going to be on TV and you’re going through a marriage breakdown with the world watching. And that was really difficult.
“I ended up with diagnosed depression, I was put on anxiety medication for the first time in my life.
“I wasn’t sleeping, I had really bad insomnia.
“I isolated myself from my friends because I was too embarrassed.”
Sabrina revealed Steven checked out of the relationship rapidly when they had left the show and claimed he flew to her home in Belfast just twice — only giving her two days’ warning that he was not joining her for Christmas.
She said: “When I married Steven, I married him with my full heart.
“But I married him based on words and promises we’d made.
“A lot of that did not translate in the real world.”
While the revelations call into question the duty of care for the reality show cast, Sabrina has gone through therapy and is now out the other side.
She added: “I’ve got a ‘Thank God I’m not married’ party in Greece in October where I have invited everyone that came to the wedding.”
Meanwhile, Steven, who has been seeking an annulment, has hit back: “Up until the reunion, I thought everything was amicable, but that wasn’t the case.
“But obviously, people deal with pain differently.”
Ouch.
You’re back in style, Sarah
Sarah Jessica Parker hits a style purple patch while filming for the new series of And Just Like That.
The actress showed that her character Carrie Bradshaw still loves an eye-catching look as she took to the streets of New York in a plum skirt and multi-coloured blouse.
Eagle-eyed fans of the show may notice that it is the same Chanel top that Carrie wore for Sex and the City episode “Hot Child in the City” in 2000.
This time, she swapped the bandana and ankle strap pumps for a long skirt and heels.
And Just Like That follows Carrie and her fellow SATC characters Miranda and Charlotte – played by Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis – as they navigate life in their fifties.
Sadly, despite a short cameo appearance at the end of the second series, Kim Cattrall’s Samantha Jones will not be back for more.
The third series is due for release on streaming service Max in 2025.
‘PM Will’ for lads’ return
The stage is set for an Inbetweeners comeback – and the creators already have some hilarious ideas for the return of the Channel 4 hit.
With talks for a third film spin-off said to be under way, fans will be keen to see what happened to main characters Simon, Jay, Will, and Neil – played by Joe Thomas, James Buckley, Simon Bird, and Blake Harrison – since the 2014 movie.
Teasing plans for its return, showrunner Damon Beesley told me: “I often wonder where the boys would be now.
“Is Jay selling car stereos with Rio Ferdinand?
“Is Simon still working on Carly?
“Is Neil a cryptocurrency millionaire?
“Did Will become Prime Minister for a bit?
“We’d need to be convinced there was a strong enough idea but if there’s enough interest for a new adventure, you never know.”
Canal Boat Diaries is returning for a sixth series, this time, winding through the journeys that show host Robbie Cumming started out on, saying: “I’ll be retracing my very first journey with some rivers and canals I’ve never been on before.”
The series is due to air on U&Yesterday in 2025.
Voice double trouble
It will be the first time two judges have sat together on The Voice, but Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones didn’t find it easy working so close – despite spending two decades together in McFly.
In fact, the pair missed out on a few good acts because they took too long to deliberate.
Tom said: “I don’t know about us bickering, but you just become a bit more hesitant.
“There might be someone with something and I’m like, ‘They’re amazing, we’re gonna turn’. And I look to Danny, and he’s just still kind of sitting, not ready to move.
“And I’m like, ‘Oh, maybe I’m wrong’.
“There’s so much that goes through your mind in the couple of minutes that you have.”
The new series of The Voice, 8pm, ITV, tomorrow.
Olivia warning
Olivia Attwood has warned husband Bradley Dack to “keep it in his pants” ahead of her new show – which was inspired by his past misdemeanours.
In ITV2’s Bad Boyfriends – which starts at 9pm on Sunday – Olivia helps a group of downtrodden girlfriends tame their feral fellas.
The reality star joked of Brad, who she recently revealed cheated on her before they were married: “Can you imagine if he does something in the next couple of weeks?
“I’m trying to promo a show saying, ‘I can tame boyfriends’, and my husband is running around doing God knows what?
“I said to him, ‘Just keep it in your pants for six months, until the second series’.”
Wallace and Gromit will be joined by a new character for Xmas special, Vengeance Most Fowl.
The story will have cameos from comics Peter Kay and Lenny Henry and follows Norbot, a smart gnome designed to fulfil gardening needs.
It will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One.
Faking it, again
Nearly two decades after it was last seen on our screens, Channel 5 is ready to reboot Faking It.
The show, which saw members of the public speedily trained in different skills or jobs to see if they could fool experts into believing they had been doing them for ages, was last shown on Channel 4 in 2006.
Now, bosses at Channel 5 are said to be close to reviving it, following the success of a number of Noughties classics making a comeback in the past 12 months.
An insider revealed that talks were ongoing about the format, but said they were already in “advanced” stages.
More details are due to be announced soon.