Inside Karen Hauer and Kevin Clifton's brutal breakup as she says 'we belonged together'

Strictly Come Dancing star has left fans heartbroken after admitting she "belonged" with ex-husband, , seven years after their divorce. The dancing duo were married for three years before calling it quits in 2018 in a breakup, which Karen claims was avoidable.

The Venezuelan-American, 43, who has been married three times, has lifted the lid on her sad split with Kevin - who is now in a relationship with Stacey Dooley - on star Paul C Brunson's podcast, We Need to Talk. Admitting that she would have tried to save the marriage if she thought Kevin – who Karen met in 2011 at a New York production of Burn The Floor – had wanted to, the World Mambo Champion says the whole thing was 'deeply regrettable'.

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So, as the pair carry on with their lives without each other, as Kevin concentrates on family life with star Stacey and their daughter Minnie, two, here's a look inside the former couple's heartbreaking split, including why Karen says she instigated the breakup...

Karen Hauer says she instigated split with Kevin Clifton after he 'distanced' himself

Talking to MAFS guru, Paul, Karen said it was her that started divorce proceedings with Kevin when it became clear that he had 'distanced himself' from the marriage.

She shared: "This one hurt, because we belonged together. You wouldn't say each other's names without following the other person's name.

"I felt that he distanced himself from me, but I was probably doing the same. Because I felt that if you don't want me then OK, I'll retreat, I'll give you your space. It was one of those, where we're both not talking about it.

"I was like, 'Do you want a divorce? Do you want to split up? I don't know what I want to do. What do you want to do? Do you know what you want? I don't know what I want. Are we broken up?"'

'I would have stayed but Kevin wanted a divorce'

Despite pulling the plug on their marriage after just three years, Karen claimed she would have tried to repair the relationship if she thought Kevin had wanted the same thing.

Insisting she would have "worked on it", she said: "I knew that I would've worked on it - I would've stayed. But at the same time, I couldn't be with someone who wasn't sure of whether they wanted to be with me or not. I couldn't wait.

"I waited for a while, and I was giving him his space to think, and then funnily enough I met someone. I was literally waiting to be loved.

"He just wanted a divorce, and I didn't fight it. Something had to happen in order for him to make a decision, because I wasn't going to make the decision."

Brutal breakup process 'took a year behind the scenes at Strictly'

Kevin and Karen kept their split secret while still performing on Strictly as Karen admits no-one suspected anything was wrong. Explaining that their painful breakup took a year to finalise, she said: "So it took a while actually, it took about a year... behind the scenes. In front of the scenes everything was normal."

Admitting she had no idea what the decorated dancer from Lincolnshire was really thinking, she added: "We fell apart, and me not knowing... obviously, I didn't know what was happening in his mind and whether he wanted to be with me or not."

Karen accused of cheating on Kevin

After the break-up, Karen, who split up from her third husband in 2023, was branded a cheat after fans, not realising that she and Kevin had broken up, accused her of having an affair after she was spotted with someone else.

Insisting she wasn't unfaithful to Kevin, Karen said: "It wasn't someone that I dated or something, it just happened to be someone that I just saw a couple of times and I got snapped up.

"And then all of a sudden I was just walking with this person and then all of a sudden, you know, I'm portrayed as someone that has cheated on him and then obviously he [Kevin] saw the pictures and was like, 'what'? So there was a big misunderstanding in all of that because I wasn't, actually I was literally waiting to be loved."

'There will always be love there'

After their split, Karen and Kevin still continued to work together respectfully on Strictly as the Venezuelan-American shared: "We respected one another, you know. We never said a bad word about one another. I think that's because we hold each other to such a high regard, you know. There will always be love there.

"We never lost that and that was what was really sad, that we could transfer that onto our relationship."

Kevin has now moved on with documentary maker, Stacey, who gave birth to the couple's daughter, Minnie, two years ago. Karen, meanwhile, split from her third husband, Simon Wyn Jones, in 2023.

She is now dating Simon Davidson, a former rugby player, and confirmed their romance in January 2024 by sharing a snap on of them cuddling together on a crisp countryside walk.

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