Strictly's Karen Hauer tearfully reveals she 'would have stayed' with ex-husband Kevin Clifton as she insists they 'belonged together'

Daily Mail​

28-05-2025

Strictly Come Dancing star Karen Hauer emotionally opened up about the breakdown of her second marriage to Kevin Clifton, as she insisted they 'belonged together'.
The Venezuelan-American ballroom specialist, 43, married the dancer in 2015 - three years after joining Strictly 's team of professionals.
They announced their divorce in 2018, but Karen has admitted the separation played out behind the scenes for months before she finally confirmed they were no longer together.
Appearing on the latest edition of Paul C. Brunson's podcast, We Need To Talk, Karen insisted it was she who instigated the separation when it became clear that he had 'distanced himself' from the marriage.
She said: 'This one hurt, because we belonged together. You wouldn't say each other's names without following the other person's name.
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'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?"'
'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.'
Despite calling time on the marriage after just three years, Karen claimed she would have worked at salvaging their relationship had he wanted to be with her.
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.
'I wasn't going to pull the plug. So then I tripped and then the grenade went off. You know, I pulled the pin.'
She added: '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. He had to do the right thing for himself.'
Despite their separation, Karen insisted she and Kevin maintained a mutual admiration for one another as trained professionals on Strictly Come Dancing.
She said: 'The respect we had for each other in the workplace. 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. So, we still danced together on the show and we were still working around each other. We would still applaud each other, support each other.
'We never lost that and that was what was really sad, that we could and transfer that onto our relationship.'
Kevin subsequently embarked on a new relationship with documentarian Stacey Dooley after the pair won Strictly together in 2018.
The couple welcomed their daughter Minnie together in 2023.
Meanwhile Karen went on to date opera singer David Webb before entering a new relationship with businessman Jordan Wyn-Jones, the man who would ultimately become her third husband.
The dancer married Jordan in 2022 after they met online, but they divorced just 16 months later.
She is now dating Simon Davidson, a former rugby player.
The pair sparked dating speculation in December 2023 when they were seen leaving the Strictly Come Dancing final together, and later at a Birmingham hotel during the Strictly live tour.
They then finally confirmed their romance in January 2024 by sharing a snap on Instagram of them cuddled up together during a countryside walk.