I'm on dating app but I love being single, says Tamzin Outhwaite as she opens up on her first-dates dread

The Sun

19-07-2025

SHE may have finally signed up to a dating app but Tamzin Outhwaite is reluctant to meet a new man, admitting: 'I love being single.'
The former EastEnders actress' marriage ended when her husband cheated.
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And after spending much of her adult life in a relationship, this is the longest she has been on her own.
Although the 54-year-old has taken the plunge with online dating since splitting from her toyboy partner last year, she is dreading the inevitable first date 'small talk'.
Tamzin says in an exclusive interview: ' I'm single, I've tried the dating apps. I'm on one now but I keep forgetting to check it.
'I just can't imagine actually going on the date and going back to the small talk. It will happen one day but I'm certainly not waiting for it.
'I've been single for over a year now and I'm loving it too much.
'I owe it to myself to be single, because I haven't been single for this long, ever. I have always been in relationships. I actually like being on my own, it's really nice.'
Her last relationship was with fitness instructor Tom Child, who is 20 years her junior. They split after six years together.
Afterwards, straight-talking Tamzin said it was the 'most mature, respectful and humane break-up' she has ever had and she says they have stayed friends.
It was a far cry from the agonising end of her seven-year marriage to Miranda and Lucifer actor Tom Ellis, 46, in 2013.
'Felt a fraud'
While she was looking after their two young daughters, he had a fling with Lost actress Emilie de Ravin, 43, when they filmed an episode of US adventure series Once Upon A Time.
Tamzin does not believe it was the only time Tom was unfaithful.
A decade after the split, she took to social media and put up a post that she later deleted which read: 'Ten years since the father of my kids walked out on us for the final time.
"I still meet new people on jobs who reveal more infidelities and lies he committed.'
And now, another hindrance for her love life is finding the time to date.
Laughing, she tells how her daughters Florence, 17, and Marnie, nearly 13, keep her busy, saying: 'I don't have the time. I'm concentrating a lot on driving my teenagers around.'
Within her career, she has barely had a break either.
Tamzin became a household name in 1998 when she joined the cast of the BBC 's EastEnders as Mel, and went on to win several Sexiest Female awards as well as Best Actress thanks to the role.
She has also starred in army series Red Cap, crime drama New Tricks and played Rebecca Mitchell in drama Hotel Babylon.
Recently she played a recovering drug addict in ITV 's police series The Tower, and last year played sex-loving Sylvie in Channel 5 's six-part drama The Wives.
Tamzin says that after reading the script for The Wives, she overhauled her health and figure ready for the camera.
She says: 'I lost weight before we started filming The Wives last February.
'I read that I was in a bikini a lot and a swimsuit. So, between Christmas and the New Year, I didn't drink any alcohol and I exercised every day. I didn't ever weigh myself, but I just knew I could fit into things that I didn't used to.
'I went down a dress size. It took me six weeks. Now it's just keeping it off.'
She does not have a regular exercise regime but loves doing 'outdoor yoga', has collagen stimulating Neogen facials and swears by sitting in hot saunas.
Tamzin says: 'I have a sauna at least four times a week. Without a doubt it works. I stay in for anything between 25 and 35 minutes.
'If you need to you can get out and have a cold shower then get back in, then that's great.'
Tamzin, who also supports charities including Caudwell Children, which helps disabled children, has a tight-knit group of friends who became her lifeline during her relationship woes.
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They include Denise Van Outen, Holly Willoughby, Sarah Parish, Angela Griffin and Lisa Faulkner, while Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has spoken about their wild weekends with 'embarrassing amounts of alcohol' and 'nattering' about their children.
Tamzin says: 'I get an awful lot from my female friends. And my male friends, and family and work colleagues too.'
While some of her mates have moved from acting into presenting, Tamzin has no plans to follow in their footsteps.
There have been rumours that she could join the Loose Women panel but she says: 'It's been talked about but I don't think I'm a very good presenter. I prefer to act. I don't think presenting is really for me.'
Last year she took part in the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special which she says she 'loved'.
She says: 'I loved it. It was easy. Well, it wasn't easy, but I felt like a bit of a fraud because I wasn't doing the main show.'
Despite this, she would not do the full series. Tamzin says: 'I wouldn't have the patience or the bones at this stage — or muscles.'
'I'd get frustrated'
Partnered by pro Nikita Kuzmin, who she dubbed 'Prince Charming, she found the two-week stint for the Christmas special tougher than expected.
Tamzin, who studied drama and dance at the London Studio Centre as a teen, reveals: 'I'd just get frustrated because I used to dance and I wanted to be able to dance like I used to, and I can't.'
And while she loves TV work, Tamzin admits she is getting fewer offers than she used to after turning 40.
She says: 'It slows right down. Well, it has for me and it has for most people I know at my age.
I owe it to myself to be single, because I haven't been single for this long, ever
Tamzin Outhwaite
'But I also think we're becoming a bit more aware of it.'
However, she is still in demand on stage. Over her career she has had starring West End roles in Oliver! and Grease.
Last year she gave what one reviewer called 'the performance of her career' in a revival of Mike Leigh's 1970s comedy Abigail's Party.
And next month she begins rehearsals in another modern stage classic, the dark comedy Entertaining Mr Sloane, by Joe Orton.
Tamzin will play landlady Kath, who begins an affair with a new lodger, in the production that opens at London's Young Vic in September.
Tamzin says: 'I absolutely love doing theatre and more than anything I love that rehearsal process.
'I like doing four weeks in a room with other people as a collaborative. That's my favourite thing to do as an actor.'
Only one thing stops her from making the stage her entire career. She says: 'You can't live off theatre money. You run at a loss a lot of the time, because theatre is so badly paid.'
But Tamzin says she loves the adrenaline of knowing that one mistake in front of an audience could cause chaos.
She adds: 'I think that's also the best thing about it — it makes it more exciting.'