Rylan Clark makes rare marriage admission after split ‘I don’t say his name’

Rylan Clark is the latest star to face tough questions on ITV’s The Assembly

Rylan Clark has opened up about his divorce (Image: Can Nguyen/REX/Shutterstock)

Rylan Clark has made a rare marriage admission after his split from Dan Neal. The 37-year-old presenter is the latest famous face to take on ITV’s The Assembly, as the bold interview series concludes its second season.

The extended run also featured appearances from national treasure Sir Stephen Fry, former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, comedy legend Sir Lenny Henry, actor Anna Maxwell Martin, and rapper Aitch.

The celebrities face a no-holds-barred range of questions that no chat show, press junket or even parliamentary grilling has ever dared to ask. Rylan’s episode will air on ITV1 and ITVX at 10pm on Sunday (May 24). During the instalment, the star is put on the spot about his divorce.

Rylan split from his husband, Dan, back in 2021 after six years of marriage. The star was open about the reason for their breakup, with Rylan admitting that he was unfaithful to his ex-husband early into their relationship. During the upcoming episode of The Assembly, a man called Cameron asks Rylan: “When you told your husband you cheated on him, he divorced you. Is honesty always the best policy?”

Rylan is set to appear on The Assembly (Image: ITV/Rockerdale Studios)

Rylan is left visibly stunned by the question, saying: “Oh wow,” before adding: “Yeah, I think it is. I’m okay admitting I’m in the wrong, because actually I don’t deal well with guilt and I don’t deal well with secrets. It made me so ill, like so ill. It sounds a terrible thing to say, but I’m glad it happened.”

Cameron then asks: “What do you miss about Dan, if anything?”

Rylan takes a moment to think, before answering: “Do you know, I never think about him. So, this is like, my whole body just went [tense]. I miss feeling like I’ve got it all. I thought I had life done – I’ve got the job, I’ve got the family, I’ve got the marriage, I’ve got the car, I’ve got the house.

“I thought I had it sussed. I didn’t have anything sussed. I didn’t know what was a real relationship, and I can look back now and know that I don’t regret anything. I don’t regret anything, so I’ll leave that up to your imagination.”

Later, during a filming break, Rylan is seen getting his make-up done. He says to the make-up artist: “I’m so glad I did this. But yeah, [the] Dan questions, I was like [surprised] – I don’t even say his name.”

The star is a beloved TV and radio presenter (Image: Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images)

The star continues to candidly reflect on the end of his marriage and the breakdown he went through afterwards. “When my marriage ended, you know that term when someone says, ‘To pull the rug from under you?’ That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s like someone went like that and I fell over, and I couldn’t get back up. [It was] like I broke both my arms and legs,” he says.

“I thought I wasn’t going to get out of it. I went back to live with my mum because I didn’t want to be in my house, because there were too many memories of things in there.”

Rylan is now in a relationship with fairground worker Kennedy Bates. The couple went public with their relationship after Rylan posted snaps of their tropical Maldives holiday back in January.

He admits on The Assembly: “When I first started dating Kennedy, and I told [my mum] about him, she was like, ‘He’s handsome,’ and he is handsome. And then she was like, ‘So, has anything happened?’ And I’m like, ‘Shut up! Shut up!’”