Chantelle Houghton, 42, has gone public with her new partner, garden centre owner Westley O’Bryan, 45, and has revealed she is already thinking about marriage, just one year into their relationship. The former Celebrity Big Brother winner says she has even picked out her wedding dress.
New Romance and Wedding Plans
Speaking during an exclusive photoshoot, Chantelle said of Westley: “He makes me feel at peace, safe, calm and everything just melts away.” She added: “I’ve already picked out my wedding dress. It’s very loosely fitted, cream, with long sleeves. It’s really simple, just stunning.”
Chantelle found the dress by chance. “There is a beautiful wedding dress shop where I live, and this dress was in the window for quite a few weeks,” she recalled. “I drove past and I was like, ‘Oh my God, I love that dress.’ Westley has seen it and he loved it. He said it was classy and I’d look beautiful in it.”
Reflecting on Celebrity Big Brother and Preston
This year marks two decades since Chantelle, then unknown, entered the Celebrity Big Brother house on a secret mission to convince her famous housemates she was part of fictional girl group Kandy Floss. She won the series, watched by seven million viewers, and fell in love with Ordinary Boys singer Preston. They married seven months later but divorced the following year.
Chantelle says she has now put that marriage behind her, and has thrown away the wedding dress she wore to marry Preston. “It just felt really disrespectful to have this dress in my home when I’m with this guy who I love and want to spend the rest of my life with,” she said.
Looking Forward to a Simpler Wedding
If she marries again, Chantelle wants a very different ceremony from her 2006 TV wedding. “That was very much like a TV wedding,” she said. “I didn’t even know who some of the guests were. This time, I would only have immediate family and close friends. It would be very simple and classy.”
Chantelle’s love life has had ups and downs since her divorce, including a six-month romance with Rav Wilding, an engagement to Alex Reid (with whom she has daughter Dolly), and a relationship with property developer Michael Strutt that ended in 2021.
Meeting Westley and Falling in Love
Chantelle met Westley at his garden centre in Brentwood, Essex, where she was visiting a friend’s salon. “I looked around and this guy looked at me and it was this moment in time,” she said. “It felt like it went on forever and ever. We both smiled at each other, then I scuttled off back to my friend’s salon. I said, ‘I’ve just met the love of my life.’”
They went on their first date a few days later, and Chantelle said they spoke all night. “I just knew how much I liked him,” she said. “I felt so comfortable and at ease, and obviously fancied him like crazy.” They made the relationship official about six weeks in.
Chantelle said the relationship progressed quickly, and she recalled the moment they declared their love. “There was one evening and he said to me, ‘I’m falling in love with you,’” she said. “I said, ‘I’m completely and utterly in love with you.’”
The couple are not living together yet, but Chantelle praised Westley as “the kindest, most considerate, supportive person” and noted that he didn’t know who she was when they met. “He didn’t watch Celebrity Big Brother and couldn’t care less about that side of things. He just loves me for me,” she said.
Overcoming Difficult Times and Looking Ahead
Chantelle has kept a low profile recently after struggling with “disordered eating”, which saw her weight drop to 8st 2lb. She is now in good health. Last month, she spoke on Paul C Brunson’s We Need To Talk podcast about being a victim of “narcissistic abuse”, saying she took a step back from public life because she “couldn’t cope any more”.
She said of her lowest point: “They put me in a situation where I didn’t want to live, but I didn’t want to die. That’s a really horrible place to be in.”
Now, with her relationship with Westley, Chantelle says she feels like she has “come home again”. She is open to returning to reality TV. “I started in reality TV and I would love to do more,” she said. “Who knows what’s next, but I’m back — and this time, I’m not going anywhere.”
