Chloe Madeley has said she is “happier now than I’ve ever been” after splitting from her husband James Haskell.
Personal trainer Madeley, 36, and former rugby union player Haskell, 38, who married in 2018 and have a daughter, Bodhi, announced they were separating in October.
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women on Friday, the daughter of TV presenters Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan said it had been a positive move for the couple as they both feel “free and happy”.
Speaking about their split for the first time on television, she said: “We get on better now that they’re not romantically involved.
“I’m happier now than I’ve ever been, I wish people would stop writing online that that’s a dig at James because it’s not, he’s happy too.
“Again, can we just stop painting so much drama on it, we’re both happy.
“I’m happier than I’ve ever been, I’m full of energy, I feel like I’ve got rocket fuel every day.
“It’s crazy that I didn’t realise that happiness and energy are completely intertwined, but evidently they are.”
She said she struggled last summer with the situation but felt more at peace once they had come to their conclusion.
“It was really tough and it kind of broke me, but once we’d made the decision and we drew a line under it, it was done,” she said.
“I’ve felt since that moment, and I think both of us have, really free and happy.”
When they announced their separation publicly, the couple were starring in a ITV reality series, Chloe Madeley: A Family Affair, which offered an insight into their life as they became first-time parents.
At the time they said they they had not planned to reveal they had split in September, while the show was airing, but felt forced to announce the news due to “constant speculation”.
Madeley said the couple were still living together but that Haskell would be moving out in the “next couple of weeks”.
She added: “I’m moving in for a week with Bodhi so she knows the environment, so she understands that she’s safe, we’re all there and we’re still a family unit, and then slowly I’ll just back out.”
The couple announced the birth of their daughter in August 2022 by posting a photo of her hand on Instagram.
Discussing how they planned to co-parent, Madeley said: “That was part of the sadness of it I think for me, and James actually, it was very much like ‘Oh, we’re not going to have the family that we thought we were going to have. That’s not going to happen for us’.
“But I did also think, she’s so little, it’s better now than to keep flogging a dead horse and give it five years.”
She also described her ex husband as an “incredible dad” and said they still “love and respect each other” but now as friends rather than partners.
Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, who also have a son, Jack, fronted This Morning together for many years before hosting their own chat show, Richard And Judy.
Chloe Madeley said: “Dad was like ‘It’s not my marriage, it’s your marriage and if you feel like this is the end of the road then that’s your choice’.
“My mum was very like ‘Are you sure? But make sure you’re sure about this’.”
She said that she is open to meeting someone else in the future but that she would only introduce “forever people” to her daughter.
She added: “I desperately just want James to be happy, I want Bodhi to be happy and I want me to be happy.”
