TV star Rylan Clark has reflected on his split from ex-husband Dan Neal, admitting that he had a ‘full-on breakdown’ as he felt like a ‘failure’
Former X Factor sensation Rylan Clark has candidly shared the personal struggles he experienced following his divorce, confessing that he “felt like a failure.”
The talented presenter shot to fame after defying expectations and reaching the quarter-finals of The X Factor in 2012, continuing his rise to stardom with an appearance on Celebrity Big Brother.
His most recent TV hit, Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour, proved to be a smash, scooping up the 2025 British Academy Television Award for Best Factual Entertainment—to Rylan’s tearful delight—earlier this year, following its successful launch in 2024.
Rylan has become a familiar face on ITV’s This Morning and is also the voice behind the popular BBC Radio 2 show Rylan on Saturday.
It was during a heartfelt episode of his How to Be in Love podcast that Rylan engaged in an honest exchange with Tasha Ghouri about her recent split from Andrew Le Page.
Amid their emotional discussion, Rylan reflected on his own difficult period following his 2021 divorce from Dan Neal, revealing how public attention exacerbated his pain:
“When I went through my divorce, I had a full-on breakdown because it wasn’t just us. It felt like it wasn’t just us, even though it was just me and my ex. I felt that everyone’s going to think this of me.”
He confided: “Everyone’s going to think, ‘Oh look, his life isn’t perfect. Oh look, he’s failed like that.’ I just felt like a failure.”
Despite his feelings regarding the divorce, he maintained that separating was the “right thing to happen.”
The couple’s unexpected love story began in 2013 when Rylan met Dan during his stint on Big Brother’s Bit on the Side, while Dan featured on the main show.
One year after sparking their romance, the pair became engaged and eventually celebrated their union with a grand ceremony in 2015 at Braxted Park Estate in Essex, drawing celebrities such as Katie Price, Eamonn Holmes, Ruth Langsford, and Matt and Emma Willis to the bash.
However, less than six years into their marriage, news broke in June 2021 that they had decided to part ways.