Cherry Healey's shock feud with her best friend revealed: BBC presenter's joint project turned sour after the TV star 'backed out over other commitments'

Daily Mail​

28-04-2025

BBC presenter Cherry Healey has said her belief in the power of 'manifestation' has enabled her to attract her dream life, including her job and 'the specific man' she wanted.
Yet the TV star, 44, who competed in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, probably wasn't intending on manifesting a bitter fall-out with her best friend over a joint book deal.
I hear that Healey's decision to pull out of a lucrative project has left her co-author, Alexis Lee, fuming and struggling financially.
The pair have previously run workshops together called Manifest That Sh** and were approached by a publisher to write a book about it.
Manifestation refers to the process of bringing desires or goals into reality through focused thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
The topics that were due to feature in the book included journaling, intention setting, alignment and finding stillness.
Sadly, according to Lee, the work will never see the light of day.
'There was a lot of excitement about the book and a bidding war among the publishers and a brilliant advance and we were incredibly happy,' says the London-born author.
'Since the book deal in 2022, and after writing at least 70/80 per cent of the book, my co-author Cherry Healey pulled out. It coincided with her TV work increasing at the time, so I can only assume this was the real reason.'
She alleges that Cherry, who is Paddy McGuinness's co-presenter on Inside the Factory, made damaging comments about her personality including that she was 'difficult' and 'intimidating' to work with.
'When she told me she wanted out, the book was almost finished,' she claims online. 'I explained I couldn't afford to pull out as I was banking on the income, and I wouldn't be able to pay back the advance as well as all the work we'd both put into the project.
'Initially, she said she'd pay the whole advance back herself since it was her decision, but she later retracted this. It's taken me a long time to recover emotionally, and I've still not recovered financially.'
The divorced mother-of-two who runs the Style Me Sunday blog, says the loss of their friendship has 'rocked her world'.
She says: 'It's the betrayal and lack of care from someone who I viewed as one of my closest friends, that hurts most.
Showing Alexis support in the comment section, and referring to her fallout with Billie Shepherd, Ferne McCann wrote: 'Hope you're ok. I hear you friendship breakups are totally underestimated. So tough. Sending love'
Ashley James added: 'Hope you're ok lovely, friendship breakups are so tough. I hope one day you'll get to write the book you wanted to'
'I wanted to seek legal justice, but I just didn't have the funds to do so.'A spokesman for Cherry, who attended Cheltenham Ladies' College before completing a drama degree at the Central School of Speech and Drama, could not be reached for comment.
Showing Alexis support in the comment section, and referring to her fallout with Billie Shepherd, Ferne McCann wrote: 'Hope you're ok. I hear you friendship breakups are totally underestimated. So tough. Sending love'
Ashley James added: 'Hope you're ok lovely, friendship breakups are so tough. I hope one day you'll get to write the book you wanted to'
It comes after Paddy squashed the rumours that he and and Cherry had struck up a romance together.
The comedian, 51, sent his Instagram followers into a frenzy after he shared an album of snaps with Cherry on the BBC show and dubbed her a 'diamond'.
Among the photos, Paddy, whose divorce with wife Christine was finalised in October last year, shared an insight of the two them enjoying a meal out and visiting a book shop.
While in the caption he gushed: 'The whole crew on Inside The Factory have been a joy to work with. A small but perfectly formed team.
'Also I'd never met @cherryhealey before but we hit it off straight away. Absolutely love working with her, she's an absolute diamond!'
This sparked speculation from fans that the co-stars were dating, with many commenting that the pair 'looked very comfortable together'.
Followers flocked to the comments to ask if they were an item, writing: 'Is this a soft launch of the new Mrs?'; 'Is this your new love? If so all the very best (you look very comfortable together)'; 'I suspect your soulmate.'
But despite excitement from their fans, Paddy broke his silence to deny the rumours, replying: 'Not at all. She's just a great person.'
Paddy made his Inside The Factory debut alongside Cherry last month during the Christmas special, after Gregg Wallace stepped down from the show last year due to the allegations in regard to female factory workers at Nestle, where he was filming at the time.
Previously, Paddy gushed about working with co-host Cherry in an interview with The Sun.
Admitted he had been nervous at the start, he said: 'That's always the tricky bit, you hope you get on.
'But I'm telling you now, me and Cherry do so much laughing. As soon as I met her, we had the biggest talk and we just got on like that.
'This is testament to her - when I did my Children in Need challenge, she turned up in Kendal to surprise me - she even brought me up a lasagne she'd made!'