James Haskell’s mum made a savage remark about his ex-wife Chloe Madeley as he made his Celebs Go Dating debut on Monday.
The former rugby union player, 41, split from the personal trainer, 38, in 2023 after five years of marriage, and is now looking for love once more.
After joining the cast of the E4 dating programme, his mum Susie lifted the lid on where his marriage ‘went wrong’ and shared some ‘strong opinions’ on his love life.
Speaking to the camera, James said: ‘Mum is an absolute loose cannon at the best of times.
‘I am dreading what’s going to come out of her mouth. As long as she does not upset my ex.’
Perhaps unsurprising to the sportsman, Susie wasted no time into launching into a rant as she told his castmates about all the ‘lovely girlfriends’ James had before he married Chloe.
James Haskell’s mum made a savage remark about his ex-wife Chloe Madeley as he made his Celebs Go Dating debut on Monday
Susie said: ‘I’m not sure where he’s gone wrong because prior to his marriage, I met lots of lovely girlfriends. Each of them just loved me, which is a bonus.
‘I do have quite a strong opinion on why I think it went wrong. You can’t have two stars because you have them competing for the floor space the whole time.
‘In the past he’s been extremely popular. I’ve seen at rugby matches where elderly ladies have got very close to him.
‘He needs someone who can see the softness of him, coupled with quite a brilliant intellect. He’s written seven books. Three of them are on The Times best-seller list.’
Despite his mother’s comments, James explained how it was Chloe who pushed him to appear on the series.
He said: ‘I was on the fence, and she encouraged me to go for it. She’s a good friend and my co-parent, and we’re very transparent with each other.
‘I feel lucky to have that kind of trust and support, it makes everything feel collaborative, and it’s a relationship I truly value.’
Chloe and James tied the knot in 2018 and welcomed their daughter in 2022, before splitting in 2023.
Perhaps unsurprising to the sportsman, Susie wasted no time into launching into a rant as she told his castmates about all the ‘lovely girlfriends’ James had before he married Chloe
Chloe and James tied the knot in 2018 and welcomed their daughter in 2022, before splitting in 2023 (pictured in 2022)
Since the breakdown of his marriage, James has dated Big Brother star Sara McLean but the pair split just two days after going public.
James previously opened up on the ‘worst bits’ of navigating his split from the daughter of Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan.
Speaking on This Morning, he said: ‘Chloe is an amazing mum, an amazing woman. She is so talented and smart, and brilliant at what she does.
‘When you get separated, obviously, because we live our lives in the public eye in some respect, basically you put yourself out there and sometimes people look to you to see how you behave in those situations, and for me, when you separate, the priority always becomes the child and your egos don’t matter.
‘We’re able to co-parent in a way, sometimes is good, sometimes is bad, that’s what happens. But we do it constructively for our daughter.
‘I think it’s important to talk about it. A lot of men reach out to me on social media and go, “Listen, I’m separating, I’m having this, I wonder how you do that, I’ve seen that.”
‘I think sometimes social media can give you a false image, sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad.
‘You never post about bad stuff. You’ve got to take everything with a pinch of salt.’
He added of Chloe: ‘She always had my back. She’s got my back now. She’s always great like that. Our daughter is amazing, and hopefully you can keep that process, it’s not always straight forward. But you’ve got to try!’
Meanwhile the personal trainer recently admitted that the divorce from her ex-husband was ‘very volatile’.
Speaking to The Sun, Chloe said: ‘It’s two years since we separated and it’s been f*****g long enough, our life has very slowly fallen into place as co-parents and as ex-husband and wife.’
She explained: ‘It’s fine now, but the divorce process has been incredibly emotional and volatile. We have weeks where everything’s fine and we get on really well.
‘And then we have weeks where we don’t agree on something or someone gets frustrated or angry, and then we don’t speak.’
Chloe revealed she now has a strict policy to avoid major rows, explaining that she left the marriage because she didn’t want conflict.
The personal trainer said when she received a letter confirming their divorce would be finalised on December 30 last year, it made her feel like she had ‘failed’.
Chloe also ruled out reconciling with James, insisting she doesn’t want another relationship with him after their marriage became ‘dark’, ‘sad’ and ‘painful’.
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