TV actor Shane Richie and his wife Coleen Nolan (of the Nolan Sisters) at the UK National Television Awards in Wembley Arena, 29th August 1995. (Photo by Dave Benett/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) (Image: Getty Images)
, the star who has experienced her fair share of romantic disappointments with two failed marriages, once vowed never to marry again. However, after moving in with her Tinder match earlier this year, it seems that love is back on the cards for Coleen.
Despite breaking up three times, their cohabitation experiment proved successful, and reports suggest they are now happier than ever.
This blossoming romance comes after her divorce from guitarist Ray Fensome in 2008 and her separation from her first husband, actor Shane Richie, in 1999. The 59 year old has been open about her nine-year marriage to Richie, which ended in heartbreak when both parties were unfaithful.
The pair first met in 1986 and planned a lavish wedding in 1990, but they eloped to Florida at the last minute when their plans fell through. They have two sons together – Jake, 31, and Shane Jr, 35 – and held a church blessing when Coleen’s father became ill a few years later.
In 1996, Shane moved to Manchester to play Danny Zuko in Grease, leaving Coleen and their two children in the south. In an excerpt from her 2009 autobiography, Coleen revealed that was the moment she began to suspect something wasn’t right, according to the Mirror, reports .
Her suspicions were confirmed at an industry party for one of Shane’s musicals, where she noticed an attractive brunette woman across the room.
Coleen Nolan has opened up about the moment she discovered her husband Shane Richie’s affair. “At the after-show party, I can distinctly remember examining this one girl. There were loads of people there but she just stood out. She had really long dark hair and was wearing a skin-tight white dress,” Coleen recalled.
“Well, it must have been female intuition because that turned out to be the girl Shane had an affair with.”
Shane Richie and Coleen Nolan were both unfaithful to each other (Image: TV Times/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
The couple split in 1999, with Coleen later marrying musician Ray, father of her daughter Ciara, 19; they separated in 2018. Shane found love again with actress Christie Goddard in 2007, and they have three children – Mackenzie Blue, 17, Lolita Bell, 15, and Romani-Skye Angel Shelley, 12. In 2012, Coleen told the Daily Star how her separation from Shane led to a more tranquil life.
“I’m in a much happier place now than when I was married to Shane, I don’t have to worry about what he gets up to any more,” she declared.
Meanwhile, Shane confessed to the Guardian that his actions were indefensible, especially as he was hosting the wedding show, Love Me Do, which promoted monogamy. “What I did to Coleen was unforgivable and I could never apologise enough,” he admitted.
Shane has openly reflected on his past actions, admitting to deceiving the public: “And I was pulling the wool over the public’s eyes, so what do you think was going to happen?”
Bradley Walsh reassured Coleen over her Shane heartache (Image: ITV)
Despite their separation, he praises Coleen for maintaining a civil post-divorce relationship. The pair kept their divorce proceedings private, with Shane even attending the christening of Coleen’s third child, manifesting their amicability.
He penned: “I wish I could take credit for it, but Coleen instigated most of that. The only people who lost out were the lawyers. They were gutted,” he disclosed. Coleen, on her part, has also been open about her own missteps in the marriage.
After feeling neglected following the birth of their second son Jake Roche, Coleen found solace in another man’s attention. During a summer stay in Weymouth with the Nolan Sisters, while Shane was performing in ‘Grease’, she had an encounter with a keyboard player.
Their moment of intimacy is etched in Coleen’s memory as described in her autobiography: “As I kissed my musician, it was like a sexual awakening.
“Adrenalin was pumping through my body. I knew what I was doing was terribly wrong, but I was literally shaking with exhilaration. ‘I am still attractive’, I thought to myself.”
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However, she admits the affair came with intense guilt, describing it in her book as one of the most horrendous times of my life.
Coleen Nolan disclosed her secret dalliance to good friend and her sister Bernie’s ex, Bradley Walsh, who reassured her not to be swamped with guilt. Recounting the advice, Coleen says: “I’m not being funny, Coleen.
“I get on great with Shane, but you don’t need to feel as guilty as you do. He’s not so innocent either.”
In his autobiography ‘Rags to Riches’, Shane also admitted to cheating on Coleen with dancer and actress Claire Taylor. He confessed: “I was lying so much that I couldn’t remember which story I’d told to each of them. And I’d lie to cover up the lies.”
Despite her growing suspicions, Coleen’s attempts to find proof by rummaging through Shane’s pockets proved fruitless.
However, the confirmation she needed came unexpectedly when she found out that phone calls were being recorded on a computer Shane had given her as a gift.
“Unbeknown to me, the computer Shane had bought me for Christmas was picking up all the calls to the house,” she disclosed in her autobiography ‘Upfront and Personal’.
“While he was away, I found out that there were 33 calls saved on the computer’s hard drive. Driven by curiosity, I listened to them,” she revealed. One particular call allegedly began with Shane saying: “Hello princess.”
“For a second I relaxed,” Coleen shared. “Shane always called me that, so I just assumed he was talking to me. But his next sentence confused me.”
She disclosed that he queried: “‘Are you in between shows? What time do you finish? I’ll try and come round.'”.
She added: “What show? I hadn’t been in a show for ages. I could only hear what Shane was saying but there was no way he was talking to me.
“‘I really miss you,’ he continued, in that affectionate tone I knew so well. Caught red-handed.”