Rhian Sugden has been spotted for the first time since Vernon Kay and Tess Daly announced the end of their marriage — and old wounds from their infamous sexting scandal have suddenly resurfaced.
The former glamour model, now 39, was seen running errands in Manchester just days after Vernon and Tess confirmed their shock split after more than two decades together. Dressed casually in an oversized white T-shirt and bright red joggers, Rhian kept a low profile as attention once again turned back to the scandal that rocked the couple’s marriage 16 years ago.
But it was Rhian’s brutally honest comments from 2020 that have now grabbed attention all over again — especially her emotional admission that seeing Vernon return to his presenting career after the scandal “still makes me feel sick.”
Speaking previously in the Channel 4 documentary Page Three: The Naked Truth, Rhian admitted the fallout destroyed her own career while Vernon seemingly moved on with little damage to his public image.
She said: “He just got away with it. It ruined everything for me. I felt like I was going up and up with my career, and then that came along. I wish I’d never met him.”
Rhian also revealed how difficult it was watching Vernon continue hosting major television and radio shows after publicly apologising to Tess live on BBC Radio 1 back in 2010.
“He got to give an apology on the radio and just got to carry on, with Family Fortunes, ironically. It still makes me feel sick,” she confessed.
The resurfaced interview comes at an awkward time for Vernon, who has now made his first public appearance since announcing his split from Tess Daly. The BBC Radio 2 presenter was seen arriving at the London studios earlier this week, where he briefly addressed the breakup on air and thanked fans for their support.
Vernon said: “I just want to say on behalf of myself and Tess, thank you, thank you for all your well-wishes — it’s been greatly appreciated.”
Meanwhile, sources close to the former couple insist there was “no big fallout” behind the breakup, claiming they had simply “grown apart” after years of living increasingly separate lives.
Rhian has since moved on and is now married to actor Oliver Mellor, with the couple sharing a two-year-old son named George. But with Vernon and Tess’s marriage now officially over, the scandal that nearly destroyed their relationship all those years ago has once again been dragged back into the spotlight.
