EXCLUSIVE: Vanessa Feltz shares 'awful' dating update and struggle to 'stay optimistic'
Vanessa Feltz opens up about her where she's at with her love life and struggle with staying optimistic after dating knockdowns
Vanessa Feltz has opened up about the state of her love life and shared an update on the "disappointing" dates she's been on recently. In an exclusive chat with Mirror, Vanessa said she is dating, as she would like a partner, but she couldn't help feeling "awful" after a date left her "stone cold".
"I'm trying to date," she stated. It's been two years since her engagement to Ben Ofoedu ended, and the 63-year-old has moved on. But the dating scene isn't the easiest to navigate.
Vanessa added that there's "nothing more embarrassing than a date that just doesn't work out" and implied she'd been on one too many of those by continuing to say: "I'm doing my best not to give up hope".
"Everybody tells me 'Don't take it too personally if it doesn't work out'," Vanessa said. "But it's quite difficult not to take it personally. It really is.
"It's horribly difficult. I really do think so. But I also think, if you don't want to be on your own and you would like a partner, you've just got to somehow brush yourself off and carry on again. But it isn't easy."
Vanessa went on to explain how she feels when she gets home from a "disappointing" date. "You know, when you've sort of made an effort, you've tried, but you can tell that you've left them completely cold, or they have left you stone cold? You go home into your own, you can't help feeling a bit awful about it. It's disappointing, isn't it? It's hard."
The TV star was married for over a decade to surgeon Michael Kurer. They had two children together, Allegra and Saskia, but divorced in 2000.
Six years later, Vanessa got engaged to singer Ben. They intended to marry the following year, but didn't and remained engaged for almost 18 years. In February 2023, Vanessa announced they'd split. Ben has since remarried.
However, while the dating side of things is still a work in progress, Vanessa's career is the best it's ever been. The star recently got her talk show, Vanessa, commissioned by Channel 5 for a whole year. On top of that, she is doing an LBC radio show, writing a regular column for the Daily Express and co-hosts a podcast with her daughter, Saskia.
"I love it, it's great fun," Vanessa said. "It's been a ride and quite a lot of work - I've not had a single day off since the last week of March - but I'm very pleased."
Vanessa spoke to the Mirror in partnership with Kensho Media.
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