Rachel Stevens has broken her silence with her husband Alex Bourne after nearly 13 years of marriage.
The 44-year-old former S Club 7 star on Monday thanked his social media followers for his thoughtful messages during the difficult time.
In her Instagram stories, she wrote, “I just wanted to thank you for all your messages of love and support. It means a lot.
Hard: Rachel Stevens has broken her silence with her husband Alex Bourne after almost 13 years of marriage
The singer informed her fans of the sad news via social media on Friday. She wrote, “I just wanted to share with all of you that after time and consideration, the difficult decision has been made for Alex and I to separate.
“Even though we are no longer couples in marriage, we will continue to be the parents of our beautiful girls and we will continue to love and respect each other.
“I feel incredibly grateful for the life we have built together and I will now continue to focus on moving forward together as a family.”
Support: The former Club S 7 star, 44, thanked his followers on social media on Monday for his thoughtful messages during the difficult time
In her Instagram stories, she wrote, “I just wanted to thank you for all your messages of love and support. It means a lot. ‘
The couple was to celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary next month.
Rachel and Alex, who were childhood sweethearts, were married at Claridge’s in London in 2009.
The couple walked down the aisle until the success of S Club 7 Never Had A Dream Come True and their bandmates – Bradley McIntosh, Hannah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara, Jon Lee, Paul Cattermole and Tina Barrett – were there. to see them say, ‘Yes.’
Milestone: The couple was to celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary next month (pictured 2011)
Rachel and Alex share two children, Amelie, 11, and Minnie, eight.
Rachel recently talked about reuniting with her childhood sweetheart, Alex.
The former pop star talked about her defining moments in her life as she remembered encountering her ex-boyfriend “chance” repeatedly.
Rachel detailed how it was “as if they were turning to each other” on Roxie Nafousi’s podcast The Moments That Made Me.
Change: Former S Club 7 star Rachel used her Instagram stories to inform her fans of the sad news
She said, “We were childhood sweethearts. We went out with each other when we were 12, we met at the youth club and I was delighted with him!
“We probably went out about four weeks and when you got that age it was very long!”
The blonde beauty explained how the couple used to be in the same social groups that grew up together in north London.
Family: Rachel and Alex welcomed two daughters Amelie, 11, and Minnie, eight (both pictured)
Loves: Rachel said, “We went out with each other when we were 12, we met at the youth club and I was delighted with him! We probably went out for about four weeks.”
Detailing his love story, he continued, “Then we had dates again when we were 16 and then when we were 18 and then we broke up, you know, obviously I left and I did mine, he left and he went do your thing.
“Years and years later, I was at Selfridges at random and he came in and we bumped into each other.
“We were both twenty and, strangely, he said as he entered: I know I’ll see you, I knew I’d see …”
Unfortunately, the timing was not for the couple, as Rachel had just come out of a long-term relationship and Alex had a girlfriend at the time.
Kickback: Rachel detailed what it was like “as if they were throwing each other” on Roxie Nafousi’s podcast The Moments That Made Me (Rachel and Alex pictured in 2011)
She explained, “It was lovely to see him as an old friend and from that moment on we kept playing at random.
“His relationship with his girlfriend ended and then I left for LA and he was an actor at the time, so he also went out to LA.
“Then we rekindled our relationship!
“Then it was a pretty random meeting and then, like we ran into each other at random, it was like we were pulling together again.”
Rachel admitted that after reactivating their romance, she knew Alex was “the only one,” but said they took their relationship slowly, adding “the rest is history.”
Game of Fame: Rachel was successful with the pop group S Club 7 (clockwise LR Rachel, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Tina Barrett, Bradley McIntosh, Hanah Spearritt, Jo O’Meara) (in the photo of 1999)