Love Island’s Marcel Somerville breaks silence on reunion with ex Gabby Allen – & defends doing All Stars while MARRIED
LOVE Island star Marcel Somerville has broken his silence on a reunion with ex Gabby Allen.
Marcel, 39, will be entering the villa alongside a slew of former Love Island stars when the show gets underway next week.
The reality star, who is still married to wife Rebecca Viera, said he filed for divorce last year but the process could take up to two years.
He stressed that he did not believe it was fair for him to put his love life on hold and should not be scrutinised for appearing on the show.
Speaking to The Sun, Marcel said: “I filed for divorce last year, we’re currently separated, I am single – but divorces can take a certain period of time.”
Marcel admitted that his estranged wife was not best pleased when she found out he had signed up to All Stars – but has now “accepted it”.
He shared: “There was no way I could go onto Love Island without telling her.
“We share a son together, I’m not going to just disappear and be puff… ‘daddy’s gone and now he’s on TV’.
“We had a conversation, it probably came as a shock to her as she probably wasn’t expecting it be a situation.
“Again in life, people make mistakes and those choices lead to people being at a crossroads.
“I was at a crossroads where I could choose to stay in a relationship that I wasn’t happy with or I could move on and try and live my life.
“If you move on, other opportunities arise, this was just something that happened.
“At the start she was like ‘you’re going to be doing this, you’re going to be doing that’, but I think she realised she was doing whatever she was doing previously and that’s what’s lead to me being at this point. She got to a point where she accepted it and it’s been very amicable since she found out.”
The former Blazin’ Squad star said he is technically “single” and think criticism about him doing the show would be unfair.
He went on to say: “To be fair, going through a divorce, it can take a while. If I’m not with someone and I’m not with a relationship with that person, is it fair for me to be like ‘okay cool, I’m not going to do anything for the next year and a half or two years until my divorce is filed and for me to start living my life again’.
“I don’t think it really works out like that.
“If me and Rebecca aren’t together and the marriage broke down, we need to move on with our lives.
“I don’t feel like I should be scrutinised for my moving on with my life, it’s something people need to do.
“If I have to wait one or two years for all the paperwork to be done, that’s me putting my life on hold for one to two years to just sit around and be unhappy.”
The older the better
Meanwhile, Marcel makes history as the oldest ever Islander at the age of 39.
The star said his age won’t hold him back in the villa – and will actually be a bonus.
“People can find love in their 50s, people can find love in their 70s, there shouldn’t be an age limit on finding love or being happy,” he said.
“It’s Love Island All Stars, I feel like everyone is going to be older than they were when they were first on the show.
“I can guarantee there are people who are in their 30s, I’m in my 30s and majority of the time girls like an older man.
“If a girl is 32 or 33, me being 39 is not really going to be a drastic age difference.”
Marcel said returning to the popular dating show has come at the right time for him – saying ” I feel like this time round I’m doing it to take me away from the negatives that happened last year and put me in a space where I can rebuild my confidence.”
The reality favourite admitted his “confidence had been knocked” after his wife admitted to “cheating” on him.
He continued: “When it first came out, my confidence was knocked. You kind of lose your worth.
“I haven’t been dating and trying to make everything amicable between me and Rebecca because we have our son.
“Just trying to create a good space we can both work in so Roman can have the best and happiest life he can have.
“I’ve been more focused on that, opposed to going out and trying to meet new partners.
“It’s 2025, it’s a new year, I’m using Love Island as a way of me diving back into the deep end of the dating pool and rebuilding that confidence and creating new connections.”
Marcel is going to be joined in the villa with his ex Gabby Allen, who he dated on series three in 2017.
The couple split shortly after leaving the villa when Marcel cheated on Gabby on holiday.
Speaking about reuniting with his former flame, Marcel surprisingly admitted he wouldn’t rule out a romantic reconciliation.
He said: “I feel like it would be pretty nice coming face-to-face with Gabby because the last time a lot happened after we came out of the villa. I made my mistakes, I put my hands up.
“But after that situation we bumped into each other and had a conversation and talked about everything and hugged it out. It was a very amicable ending to our life.
“But I haven’t seen her since that point.
“It will be nice to catch-up and see how she’s been getting on. I’ve seen that she’s had romances since but obviously we’ve both moved on and both grown.
“It would be nice to have a catch-up and be friends.”
Confirming if he’s left the door open on a romance with Gabby, Marcel said: “You can never say never. It’s all hypothetical, it would probably be more about seeing what the energy is between us and seeing if there was that spark there.
“It’s been seven years, the spark might not be reignited because what’s gone on with our past. Who knows?”
Marcel’s heartbreak
In February last year, it was revealed that Marcel had walked out on his wife Rebecca after she was accused of cheating on him with a US pop star.
The couple share a child together, who was born in 2021.
Days after the infidelity claims surfaced, Rebecca admitted to “cheating” on the Blazin Squad star and issued a grovelling apology.