'I would've stayed' - Karen Hauer opens up on the 'hurt' of divorce from Kevin Clifton

Strictly Come Dancing's Karen Hauer has opened up about her divorce in a candid new interview that makes for heartbreaking listening.

Appearing on Paul C. Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast, Karen shared emotional details of the breakdown of her and ex-husband Kevin Clifton's marriage and her journey of moving on from the relationship.

Karen tearily recounted how Kevin "distanced himself" from her for months before they discussed divorcing. The pair, who met working as dance pros on Strictly, announced their split in 2018, after three years of marriage.

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

"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."

Because of the lack of communication, Karen revealed that it took "a while" for the pair to finally decide to split.

"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?'

"So it took a while, actually, it took about a year... behind the scenes. In front of the scenes, everything was normal. 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 also admitted that she would've tried to make her and Kevin's marriage work, but felt that he "just wanted a divorce".

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 whether they wanted to be with me or not. I couldn't wait."

She then recalled how a "grenade went off' when pictures of her with another man surfaced on the internet. She explained that this was not a person she was dating at the time, but the "misunderstanding" forced Kevin to finally say that he wanted to call it quits.

"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.

"It was tough for him, tough for me. It was tough for both of us at that moment. I could see he didn't want to let go. But that didn't give him any choice."

Karen explained that she still has a lot of respect for Kevin, who is now married to TV presenter and journalist Stacey Dooley. He and Stacey met when they were paired up for the 2018 series of Strictly. The couple welcomed their first child, a daughter named Minnie, in 2023.

"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."