She’s endured a turbulent love life, but Chanelle Hayes has now found her happy-ever-after, and last week revealed that she’s engaged.
The former Big Brother housemate, 34, has been dating accountant Dan Bingham since early 2021, and last week sources revealed that he had popped the question, and that Chanelle “said yes straight away”. This is the first time Chanelle has been engaged, despite a series of relationships.
Her first high-profile romance was when she rose to fame back in 2007 while on Big Brother, when she got together with her housemate Ziggy. The pair split six months after the show ended, and Chanelle went on to date footballer Matthew Bates. But just three months after she became pregnant with his baby – son Blakeley, now 12 – the pair split, and Chanelle dated Jade Goody’s widower Jack Tweed during the rest of her pregnancy.
She then began dating PE teacher Ryan Oates in 2016, after they met on Tinder, and the couple welcomed son Frankie, now four, the following year. But they broke up three months later, with Chanelle claiming Ryan “just walked out” – something Ryan hasn’t confirmed or denied.
As well as her love life, Chanelle – who once worked as a Posh lookalike – has struggled with her weight. She was a size 6-8 while in Big Brother, but her weight crept up until she was a size 16 in 2014.
The following year, she dropped four dress sizes, after a strict diet and exercise regime, but later she revealed the unhealthy lengths she went to, saying that she barely ate and took laxatives.
Struggles with binge-eating meant that her weight continued to yo-yo over the years, and constant dieting left her needing a hair transplant due to the baldness she suffered.
In late 2019, the reality star, then a size 18, confided in Closer that her goal for the following year was to concentrate on her health and happiness, revealing she’d set herself fitness targets to get “long-lasting” results.
But after struggling during the lockdown, Chanelle decided to have a gastric sleeve operation in January 2021, in a bid to target her weight issues.
Since then, she has thrived, losing an amazing 8st. She now opts for smaller, protein-rich meals, eating little and often, rather than the large, carb-heavy ones she used to have, and she has found a love for walking.
And Chanelle told Closer this year that Dan supported her weight-loss journey, and hinted at a possible proposal. She said, “My partner just wants me to be comfortable in my body. We’re happy how it’s going. I wouldn’t say no to marriage in the future.”
However, the mum-of-two – who, at the time, was talking about potentially having a tummy tuck – added that
there would be no chance of children with Dan, saying, “Absolutely no more babies. Maybe I should ask them to give him the snip when I get my surgery – although recovering and nursing him at the same time wouldn’t be fun!”