Denise Van Outen has opened up about her split from Lee Mead, insisting she is not ready to move on with someone else.
The 39-year-old actress and TV presenter split from Lee last summer after four years of marriage. Denise was recently pictured talking to Lawson singer Andy Brown on a beach in Australia.
But she told You magazine: "There is absolutely no new romance. No way, it's far too soon. My head is not even in that area. Right now I need to take time for me because anyone who has come out of a long-term relationship needs to find themselves again.
"I have distracted myself with work and obviously I am a busy mum, but I am not really ready for a relationship. It's less than a year since Lee and I split. All I have been doing is just spending downtime with my girlfriends, working, and spending quality time with Betsy. I haven't thought about anything more than that."
The former Big Breakfast presenter revealed she and Lee, 32, had made an effort to stay friends for the sake of their three-year-old daughter Betsy, but admitted she has been very hurt by the split.
Denise confessed: "Oh God, I get so hurt - I am very sensitive when it comes to affairs of the heart. It is very much all or nothing with me and I don't keep in touch with my exes because normally when things end there are hurt feelings. Obviously my situation with Lee is very different - there would never be a cut-off thing with him and it's not only because we have a child together, it's just a very different relationship from any other I have had."
She added: "That's the one thing I am really proud of, that Lee and I have come out of it as really good friends. Lee is brilliant with Betsy, I couldn't ask for anything more. We are totally united when it comes to our daughter. We sit down and talk about how we are going to do things.
"Lee is brilliant - I can't fault him. I have friends who are separated from their partners and they have all sorts of problems with them not turning up to collect the child when they have said they will and so on. Lee has never let me down like that.
"He does lovely things with Betsy and she adores him. I talk about him all the time to her and always say nice things - I would never bad-mouth him in front of her, or anybody."
