Helen Flanagan admits she 'wants to stay single' as she candidly discusses feeling 'quite sensitive' dating after split from Robbie Talbot
The actress, 34 - who shares kids Matilda, nine, Delilah, six, and Charlie, three, with her ex-fiancé Scott Sinclair - said she is 'quite sensitive' and struggles when dating.
Helen split from professional footballer Scott in 2022 after 13 years together and then moved on with construction worker Robbie, 45, but they split in May.
Speaking to The Mirror, she explained: 'I'm concentrating on the kids, work, moving house and being with my friends.
'I'm quite sensitive and struggle with dating. There's always something with men. Now I want to be single a bit.
'Robbie was very sweet and kind. He was older than me and cared about me. Sometimes relationships just don't work long term.'
Helen went on to admit that after Robbie's daughter Carina and her daughter Delilah became 'close', she will be hesitant to introduce her children to anyone in the future.
Speaking on the Daily Mail's The Life of Bryony podcast in March, just weeks before their split, Helen gushed over her relationship with Robbie.
She said: 'He's lovely. Everybody loves him. I just met him at a bar. I literally, I just, I could not stop laughing at this guy.'
'My boyfriend's actually the funniest guy I've ever met. He's got two kids and he's, he's really beautiful with my children.'
'I think that's what made me fall more in love with him because he's so good with my mental health things and that's the main thing for me that I need.'
'I need someone that's good for me mentally and emotionally, that's my top thing and that's what I've realised.'
'No disrespect to the father of my children, I'll always have that love for him, but he didn't know how to cope with me or didn't know how to do that, and not everybody does, but because the man that I'm with now really knows how to do that, it makes me happy.'
Helen had also previously hinted at wanting more children with the former non-league footballer.
However, friends then claimed Helen had had a change of heart, and she told Robbie their relationship 'wasn't working', with their split emerging in May.
Earlier this week, Helen also discussed her co-parenting struggle and 'mum guilt' over her different bonds with her three children.
Sharing a series of photos with her children, she captioned the Instagram update: 'Looked back at some of my favourite times with the kids this year x
'Found motherhood hard recently, I've felt overwhelmed and stressed the majority of the time and I want to get back to when I'm present and I'm really in it and I'm really enjoying it x I always wanted to be a mum x.
'I get mum guilt with Matilda as I feel like I'm always pre occupied with her brother, I can't give her the energy that I want to give her and I feel like she always sees me at my worst.'
'I also feel like she needs calm which I can never be. Delilah, I feel like I'm getting it right with her and I feel like our bond is tight, so that's something not to beat myself up about. Charlie I could pull my hair out sometimes, I feel like I've got the male version of me x.
'Co parenting is hard and not being a team together and not being able to talk about your anxieties and worries for the kids.'
She concluded: 'I suppose you can only do your best and be kind to yourself but I wanted these on my grid for me as they make my soul happy.'
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