Helen Flanagan tearfully spoke about her romance with David Haye and the throuple rumours after they were both on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here together
10:05, 14 Apr 2026Updated 10:06, 14 Apr 2026
Helen Flanagan teared up about David Haye(Image: Channel 4)
Helen Flanagan teared up as she discussed her romance with David Haye. The star’s tears as she spoke about the boxer and the throuple rumours came shortly before he went back on I’m A Celebrity, where he has faced backlash for his comments about women.
Coronation Street star Helen and David had a brief romance three years ago, over a decade after they met whilst appearing on I’m A Celeb together in 2012. The two were rumoured to be in a throuple with his girlfriend Sian Osborne, who David is in an open relationship with. He recently told the I’m A Celeb South Africa camp that Sian had the personality of an “ugly bird” – his comments about “ugly girls” on Monday’s episode have been the subject of a lot of backlash from both people at home and his celebrity campmates.
READ MORE: ‘I’m in an open marriage – David Haye’s ‘ugly women’ comments prove one thing’READ MORE: Who is David Haye’s girlfriend Sian and what has she said about throuple behaviour
Helen Flanagan used to be in a relationship with David Haye(Image: Sam Simpson/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Modalux Limited)
David Haye and Sian Osborne are known for throuples – seen here with The Saturdays’ Una Healy(Image: instagram/ @davidhaye)
In an interview with the Mail from Janaury, Helen teared up as she discussed her relationship with David. When asked if she was in a throuple with David and Sian, she vehemently said no and explained that she was only with David. She was also asked about a time when she bought him a Cartier watch for his birthday. She said: “Oh, god, that actually makes me cry.”
She added: “That is a little bit embarrassing. Why did I do that? Because I wanted him to love me properly.” As she cried, she called their relationship a “toxic situation”.
In her autobiography, Helen also admitted that she knew David and Sian were known for being in throuples, but made it clear that she was not interested in dating both David and Sian. She said: “I’m not a prude, but I’ve never been into that – it was David I liked.” The two broke up in December 2023.
She also spoke about David whilst appearing on Celebs Go Dating in 2024. She told the experts on the show: “It was quite something, it’s really hard for me to talk about it he had a girlfriend and an open relationship. I didn’t mean to fall in love with him but I did. We did have this amazing connection together. We were like fire together.”
“It was weird. I think he does love his girlfriend but he loves me as well,” she also said. “It just brings me to a part of my life that was quite dark, really.”
Helen and David first met on I’m A Celeb(Image: ITV)
Helen added that she felt “guilty” towards Sian and started to cry on the show. She said: “I felt really guilty about it, but I was just really lonely. I found it really hard, you know?
“I found it really difficult, but obviously, if you sleep with someone for quite a long time you do fall in love with them, and I was just lonely and it just happened.”
Sian was a hot topic of conversation on I’m A Celeb during Monday’s episode (13 April). David Haye told his campmates that she had a great personality, despite being pretty, which he theorised was caused by “ugly ducking syndrome”. He said: “Most ugly girls realise they don’t they’re not pretty enough to….they gotta have a personality to banter and to tell jokes and s**t, so people overlook the fact that they’re not aesthetically amazing, straight away.
“Which is what’s called Ugly Duckling syndrome, where girls are ugly, when they start off, and then they and then they kind of they, they get pretty as they get older. But they still got the personality of when they’re ugly. Does that make sense?”
His comments were met with shock from his fellow campmates. Scarlett Moffatt took David to task over the comments. She explained: “It is not just ugly people saying ‘would you like a drink’. What are you talking about? You are just talking s***.”
And actor Beverley Callard added: “Complete claptrap. So do handsome men have s*** personalities? I have never heard anything so sexist in all my life.” She later added: “He has hit the jackpot, but his partner has got the booby prize.”
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