Louise Redknapp felt like a “failure” when her marriage ended.
The 44-year-old singer split from football pundit Jamie Redknapp – the father of her sons Charley, 14, and 10-year-old Beau – in 2017.
Despite her sadness at their split, she can acknowledge that much of their relationship was “incredible”.
She said: “Well, yes, you feel a bit of a failure. For 21 years, I was in a secure marriage. You know, through good times and bad times.
“A lot of those 21 years were incredible. And there were moments in those 21 years when I was sad. Not due to Jamie. Most of it due to me.”
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The Stretch singer previously admitted she felt she’d “lost herself” in her marriage but she’s come to realise that wasn’t Jamie’s fault as she should have spoken up to say she was no longer happy being a stay-at-home parent.
She told You magazine: “Who gets a second chance, you know? I just didn’t think it would ever happen for me.
“I am pleased I did Strictly, because without it I think I wouldn’t have had the courage. Any woman who’s hit her 40s will understand that.
“But I don’t blame Jamie. I wish, three years ago, I’d been able to just speak up. For a long time it was easy to blame him.
“But actually, in the past six months, I’ve thought, you know what, it was down to me to say, ‘Something’s not right. My self-esteem is really struggling. I’ve got no passion.
“I love my kids more than anything in the world. I love what I do, too, and I haven’t quite got the guts to go out and try to do it again.’
“I just didn’t speak up. I don’t blame anyone else for that. I wish I’d just gone, ‘Right, the kids are getting older, and I love my job and I’m going to give it a real go, and Jamie, if you don’t like it, tough. But if you do like it, let’s talk about it.’ ”
Louise is relaunching her pop career and admitted she is “really scared” about the future, but just wants to make the most of the opportunities that come her way.
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She admitted: “I’m really scared. I’m scared about the future. Jamie and I have got to a really positive place with each other. But I don’t know what life is going to be like.
“I’m nervous about work and career and all those things, because I’m not young. And people are judgmental.
“The music industry has changed so much. I’m just now trying to understand, you know, iTunes and Spotify.
“It would be really nice for the music to do well enough to be able to do a tour next year.
“I hope people are going to like it but I’m well aware that it doesn’t always work out. So I’m just going to give it what I’ve got.
“I never thought this would be an option for me.”
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