Strictly Come Dancing star breaks down in tears as she details 'toxic' marriage

Karen Hauer's "fairytale" wedding at a luxurious Hampshire country house looked to many like the final piece of the puzzle in a glamorous showbiz life. However, behind the scenes her brother was begging her to leave her fiancé, fitness entrepreneur Jordan Wyn-Jones, even on the day of her wedding.

Tears streamed down the pro's face as she admitted she wished he'd been successful in stopping the marriage. "Everyone was trying to stop this from happening and I wish they would have just taken me, grabbed me and put me in a car, and I would have kicked and screamed, but I wouldn't have gone through more hell," she agonised. Describing him as increasingly controlling as he feared her cheating on him, she asked: "Why did I let someone do that to me?"

In a candid conversation with Celebs Go Dating star Paul C Brunson on his We Need To Chat podcast, she told of how she had developed stress-related alopecia, causing clumps of hair to fall out.

She continued that, although things never got physical, she was in "panic mode" constantly, and alleged her former husband made her fearful of going "anywhere".

Eventually, she had the excuse of working in London to be able to get to a Pink concert with her two best friends - and they made a plea for her to leave her toxic relationship.

"I cried for the first 35 minutes of the show. The freedom of being out there with my friends and them holding me up, and going, 'You have to do this,'" she exclaimed.

After she finally found the courage to walk away, realising he was "losing control" over her, the pro-dancer claimed.

"He pulled every shot, every string, did everything he needed to do to try and get my attention and try to get me away from what I was doing to go and see him," the tearful dancing pro explained.

Now, three years after her ill-fated third wedding, Karen has found happiness again in a new relationship with ex-rugby star Simon Davidson.

It's early days but she describes it as her "first proper relationship", with a man who ticks all the boxes.