Stacey Dooley's life with Kevin Clifton after ex's brutal accusations

Stacey Dooley found love with her Strictly Come Dancing partner Kevin Clifton five years ago, but their journey to romance wasn't smooth. The documentary maker, who is appearing on BBC show Have I Got News For You tonight, was accused of cheating with Kevin by her ex after the duo lifted the Glitterball trophy on the 16th season of the show in 2018.

Stacey, now 37, went public with her relationship with Kevin, 42, in 2019 and they welcomed their daughter Minnie into the world in 2023. The trio moved to their dream home in Liverpool, a luxury period property, last year.

Kevin revealed they had bought the property partly to be close to Stacey's mum. He said: "Stacey loves looking at houses on the internet. Looking at interiors and stuff is her favourite thing to do. She just happened to have seen something she liked and thought, 'Oh it's not too far away from my mum'.

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"We went and had a look and the second she walked in was like, 'I love it and I can really see us living here'. It all happened really quickly and we love it."

The couple, who like to keep their life away from TV private, had to overcome obstacles at first as they faced heated accusations from Stacey's ex partner Sam Tucknott. They had been together for three years and lived together before Stacey's appearance on Strictly.

Sam, a personal trainer, accused his former girlfriend of having an affair with Kevin and blamed him for the end of their relationship, despite Stacey insisting they had only got together after her relationship with Sam ended. At the time Sam told The Sun he had discovered their relationship when Stacey's phone flashed with a message from Kevin saying "I love you."

He revealed: “I was getting my stuff to leave. Stacey was in the loo. Her phone went and it was Kevin Clifton — ‘I love you’ with a red love heart. I grabbed the phone and confronted her. She said she’d tell me everything I needed to know.” Sam said that they had both left their flat before Stacey later messaged him to say she had fallen for Kevin.

He said she wrote: “Sam, I know you hate me at the moment. But you saw I didn’t start entertaining and texting him (Kevin) until I split up with you. I was not with you when we started it all.

“I did fall for him but when we were done. I will tell you anything you want to know.”

Sam also said he had called Kevin on a FaceTime video call after discovering he had been dating his ex. He said: “He went white. I just stuck it on him, ‘You’re an absolute rat, how you conducted yourself. Just a slippery, slimy snake’. He didn’t say a word, he looked petrified, so shocked.”

Stacey has previously confessed she is in no rush to marry professional dancer Kevin, who has been married three times. Appearing on her W show, Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over, the presenter spoke to a family who are part of a community called Tradwives, in which women give up their careers to look after their children and husbands.

"Kev and I have been together for two years," she explained. "I don't think I want to get married. I think I'd be more interested in starting a family than getting married."