Strictly’s Wynne Evans has found love again after the breakdown of his 16-year marriage left him contemplating suicide.
The opera singer, 52, who is competing on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, has been in a relationship with events manager Liz Brookes, 50, since earlier this year.
Wynne previously revealed he hit ‘rock bottom’ in the midst of his depression, stemming from the end of his marriage to Tanwen, the mother of his two children, in 2016.
But Wynne is now in a relationship with fitness fanatic Liz – who is said to have helped him lose weight ahead of Strictly.
A source told The Sun: ‘Wynne and Liz met at an event and are taking things slow, but he’s excited about where the relationship might go.
Strictly ‘s Wynne Evans has found love again after the breakdown of his 16-year marriage left him contemplating suicide, The Sun revealed on Wednesday
The opera singer, 52, who is competing on this year’s Strictly Come Dancing, has been in a relationship with events manager Liz Brookes, 50, since earlier this year
‘He is in a much better place now than when his marriage ended. It’s like night and day — and he is so happy.’
Away from the camera, Wynne was struggling with his mental health and battled depression and loneliness for years before opening up about his struggles in a bid to help others.
To mark the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, Wynne told BBC Radio Wales of the split: ‘It was almost like grief, but you can’t grieve for somebody that’s still there.
‘So, it really affected my mental health, my confidence and my ego – it totally changed me as a person.’
Wynn continued: ‘It made me very aware of being alone. And, even though I was only 46, I had this irrational fear of dying on my own. I had very dark thoughts and very dark days where I would contemplate all sorts of terrible things.
‘I think it’s obvious what I’m saying, but I don’t want to say it because some people find it distressing. I’m fine to talk about it now, but at that time nothing would help me. I realised that I wanted my life to be over and I did some stupid things.’
Wynne shared that, realising he needed help, he booked to see a psychiatrist and began taking medication.
He also said that fresh air and exercise aid him in keeping the depression at bay, but readily acknowledged that this may not work for everyone.
Wynne is now in a relationship with fitness fanatic Liz – who is said to have helped him lose weight ahead of Strictly
Wynne is known and beloved by millions in the UK for portraying Italian tenor Gio Compario, the former face of GoCompare, a Welsh financial services comparison company
During an appearance on This Morning that April, Wynne said: ‘I’ve always been fat, I thought ”I’ve gotta do something”.
‘I was having trouble washing and getting up the stairs. My mental health hasn’t been great in the last five or six years, and it really helped.’
The father-of-two went on to say that he continued working on the radio during the difficult time: ‘The strapline of my show is, “cheering Wales up by one o’clock,” but I was going through the worst depression, clinical depression’.
‘I would think about (suicide), I would try and action it… I couldn’t see a way out; I couldn’t see a way of ever being happy again.’
Wynne revealed he had lost more than seven stone after hitting ‘rock bottom’ in the midst of his depression, stemming from the end of his marriage to Tanwen in 2016 (right in 2021)
In a chat with Mind – the mental health charity – he explained: ‘On paper I had everything, a good job, I was on the radio every day, I worked for GoCompare…
‘But the reality was very different, I felt alone, I could feel alone in a room full of people.’
He also offered tips on coping mechanisms for those struggling, saying: ‘It’s the tiny things that help, it’s a tiny thing to just pick up the phone or pop next door and ask “How are you?”, it’s tiny, but it’s so important’.
Help is available: Call the Samaritans on 116 123 for 24-hour support
