EXCLUSIVE! Ferne McCann opens up on how she coped with split from ex-boyfriend

She split from Jack Padgett back in June

ferne mccann split jack padgett heartbreak

by Hannah Mellin |
Updated on

Ferne McCann: First Time Mum is finally back on our screens and is already filling the Love Island-shaped hole in our lives.

Not only does the seventh series follow Ferne and her three-year-old daughter Sunday, but her relationship with ex-boyfriend Jack Padgett is also unfolding and the first episode saw Ferne struggling to find time for her best friends as well as Jack.

Former TOWIE star Ferne went public with her romance with Jack in December last year and like many new couples, they moved in together during lockdown so they could see each other.

However in June, Ferne and Jack split during filming for the show, admitting that they were “at different stages of their lives”.

ferne mccann split jack padgett
ferne and jack together before their split ©Instagram

CHECK OUT: the TOWIE babies and their famous parents

Gallery

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CREDIT: Instagram / amychilds1990

Amy Childs

The first of the really big names to come from TOWIE, Amy quit the show in 2011 and welcomed her first daughter, Polly, in 2017. She also has a son from a different relationship who she's kept out of the limelight, but accidentally revealed his name was Ritchie in an interview.

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Georgina Cleverly

Georgina Cleverley – née Dorset – was only on the show for two series and went on to have a two sons with her footballer hubby Tom, who she keeps off social media.

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Sam Faiers

Sam is mum to daughter Rosie and a son called Paul, who she named after her husband, also called Paul. "We always wanted him to be named Paul after his dad," she said."It's traditional and we didn't have any other names on the list, so he's Paul, and his middle name is Tony after Paul's brother, his Uncle Tony."She's made a household name for herself and her family with her hit reality show, The Mummy Diaries.

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Billy Faiers

Sam's lookalike big sister Billie is also a mum to two kids of her own, sharing daughter Nelly (five) and son Arthur (three) with her husband Greg Shepherd.

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Kirk Norcross

Despite being TOWIE's original bad boy, Kirk has overhauled his image in the last few years to be the ultimate family man. He's dad to son Harry, three, and daughter Violett, four - although Violett doesn't feature on his Instagram after her mum made it clear she didn't want her in the public eye.

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Maria Fowler

Maria is mum to four-year-old Evie who she shares with husband Kelvin Batey, and earlier this year revealed on Instagram that they were preparing to welcome baby number two.Back in 2018, Maria revealed she had suffered a miscarriage, writing on Instagram, "I feel silly even referring to it as a baby as we were really early in the pregnancy and had not yet had a scan but I did grieve and I did feel like I had lost something very special."I feel it is such a cruel twist of fate to get such happy news and then have it taken away. Just like that. No explanation."

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Chloe Sims

Chloe was already a mum when she joined the cast of TOWIE back in 2011. Her daughter Madison is now 15, and largely stays out of the public eye, although last year Chloe finally revealed Madison's dad was still a close pal, posting a picture to Instagram and writing, "So lots of people have always been interested in who is Maddie's dad, well, here he is..."I was 18, he was 24... all you nosy f--ckers who wanted to know, here he is!"

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Dan Osborne

TOWIE lothario Dan Osborne already had a son, Teddy, with ex Megan Tomlin when he joined TOWIE. After he was booted in 2015, Dan married EastEnders star Jaqueline Jossa and they have two daughters together, Mia and Ella.

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Lucy Mecklenburgh

Lucy Mecklenburgh quit TOWIE all the way back in 2013 and since then has had success as an influencer and fitness guru. In 2020 she welcomed her first child with her fiancé, Corrie actor Ryan Thomas, a son they named Roman.

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Lydia Bright

How cute is this? Long-term best pals Lucy and Lydia were both pregnant at the same time and gave birth just weeks apart. Lydia is going it alone as a single mother to baby Loretta, after splitting with Loretta's dad Lee Cronin during her pregnancy.

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Ferne McCann

One of TOWIE's most high profile mums, Ferne McCann welcomed her daughter Sunday in 2017following a difficult few months. Shortly before announcing her pregnancy Ferne's boyfriend Arthur Collins was arrested and charged with an acid attack in an East London club that left two victims blind. And weeks before Sunday was born he was sentenced to 20 years.

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Mario Falcone

TOWIE OG Mario left the show after 15 series, and in 2018 welcomed a son, Parker Jax,with his fiancée Becky Meisner.

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Chloe Lewis

Chloe quit the show in 2019 after revealing she'd found herself a new relationship and it wasn't long before she and new man Danny Flasher announced they were expecting. They welcomed a healthy baby boy, Beau Lewis, in October 2019.

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Jake Hall

Meanwhile, Chloe's TOWIE boyfriend Jake Hall went on to have a family of his own. Despite an at times messy relationshipwith Real Housewives of Cheshire's Misse Beqiri, the couple welcomed a daughter in 2018, who they named River.

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Billi Mucklow

Billi Mucklow, who left TOWIE in 2013, must certainly have her hands full with her huge blended family with footballer fiancé Andy Carroll. The couple are raising Andy's kids from a previous relationship, Lucas and Emilie, and have two of their own together, Arlo and Wolf. In early 2020 they announced they were expecting AGAIN. Phew.

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Danielle Armstrong

Danielle Armstrong welcomed her first child with long-term pal Tom Edney in May 2020 after being "pregnant forever" and begging fans for tips on inducing labour. She took to Instagram to update followers on the birth, writing, "My world Is complete ud83dudc76ud83cudffcud83dudc95 Orla Mae Edney Born May 26th at 16:30pm, weighing a healthy 8Ibs11".

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Lauren Pope

Lauren quit TOWIE in 2019 after a staggering nine years on the show. In July 2020, she and her boyfriend welcome a little girl called Raine Anais Keterman.

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Sam Mucklow and Shelby Tribble

After a whopping three-day labour, Sam and Shelby welcomed their first child, a boy, in November 2020. "Shelby and our beautiful baby boy are both well and healthy," he wrote on Instagram. "Shelby didn't have a straightforward labour so she has been in hospital for five days. She has been an absolute soldier."

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Georgia Kousoulou and Tommy Mallet

TOWIE's power couple Georgia Kousoulou and Tommy Mallet welcomed their baby boy Brody on 5th May, 2021. They even reveal that "Mallet" is not actually Tommy's surname, when they introduced baby as Brody Fordham.

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Lauren Goodger

After years of dreaming of being a mum, Lauren finally welcomed her first child, a daughter called Larose, In July 2021. Sadly when Larose was just a couple of months old, Lauren split from the baby's dad Charles Drury, but is smashing being a single mum.

As First Time Mum airs, Ferne is having to watch herself go through heartbreak, as she filmed the whole thing.

Yep, Ferne has never held back from being extremely open and honest when it comes to every part of her life.

ferne mccann jack padgett
ferne and jack during happier times ©Instagram

When we asked her what secret to getting over heartbreak is, Ferne told Closer Online, “I wish I could tell you! I’m so excited for this series, genuinely, it’s so honest. There’s so much more of that in this series and episode three, my God, if I was someone going through heartbreak at the time that it airs on TV I would really take a lot of comfort from watching it.

"I’m very honest, It’s very raw and I had nowhere else to go when I was going through the break up whilst filming for my show.”

WATCH: Ferne McCann on breaking up with her ex-boyfriend and her heartbreak plan | First Time Mum Secrets

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She added, “I actually wrote a heartbreak plan! I was like, right, this is what I'm going to do. I’m a 30 year old grown ass woman, I’m a mother and there’s no room to wallow.

“It takes time, processing the emotions and instead of deflecting and distracting and doing all the things you think you should do, going out partying with friends and whatever. All those textbook things you should be doing, you shouldn’t, you need to sit and feel that emotion. It’s all consuming and is like an illness but there’s no other way to escape it, you have to face it.”

Ferne then revealed that two months after the split, her “heart is now healed!”

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