Now the 31-year-old singer has revealed their hectic schedules were to blame, and suggested they wanted different things.
Speaking to the Daily Mail’s Weekend magazine, X Factor host Olly said: “You get to the point in a relationship where you have to decide what that next commitment stage is. We were both quite career-driven, so…”
Olly continued that, while he does what children one day, he’s doesn’t think he’s in a position to start a family just yet.
He said: “I do [want kids], but I’m not ready for it yet. I want to become a dad when I’m not touring. I want to be there every day for that child. I’m not at that place right now.”
Although he admitted the break-up has been hard, Olly implied there’s no going back for him and property manager Francesca now the ‘bubble has burst’.
“Being with her was like being in a bubble,” he said. “Where I’d go to get away from the madness of my world.
“It was a more normal world. But when that bubble bursts it bursts.”
Olly’s co-host Caroline Flack recently fuelled rumours the pair are more than friends, claiming that their relationship is not strictly platonic.
But Olly insisted he’ll never go there with his BFF. He said: “If it didn’t happen three or four years ago then it isn’t going to happen now. To be honest, it would mess everything up.”