Inside Ronnie O'Sullivan's on-off relationship with Strictly star Laila Rouass as pair leave UK for ‘clean break'
The pair have jetted out to Dubai after rekindling their relationship, pals told The Sun.
7
7
7
7
O'Sullivan first met Laila in 2012 and they were engaged a year later before moving in together in Essex.
The snooker star became stepdad to Laila's daughter, Inez, from her second marriage to businessman Nasir Khan.
But they put marriage on the "back burner" as Laila told The Sun: "We're enjoying our time. There's no rush."
Their relationship hit its first rocky patch in 2022, leading to a split.
Strictly star Laila, 53, took to social media and wrote: "After nearly ten years of love and memories, Ronnie & I have parted ways."
That did not last long however with the duo working out their differences and re-uniting.
O'Sullivan reportedly threw himself back into the relationship and he insisted they were "happier than ever".
He said: "It's good. She's great. I love her. She's great company and I love being around her.
"She's very supportive. I have to behave myself. I know when to go, 'Alright, you're in charge'.
"But she's also really good at going, 'Listen, you've got a busy life, you've got a lot to do, just get on with it'."
Zhao Xintong's classy act towards Ronnie O'Sullivan revealed after knocking legend out of World Snooker Championship
He added: "Now it feels a lot better – everyone's just in a better place. I just want to see her and her daughter happy, and her family, who are like my family, happy."
Fast forward two years and they were back in a bad patch, with O'Sullivan moving out of their £2million Essex home.
The house was listed for sale with the seven-time world champion setting up shop in a London bachelor pad.
A friend of the couple said: "Ronnie and Laila really threw themselves back into their relationship after the split a couple of years ago.
"He kept posting pics of them online at home together and saying romantic things on special occasions, but that's all come to a halt.
"They've tried so hard but they just can't make it work."
Now the pair have ironed out their issues once more and not just back together, but planning a new life in the UAE.
7
7
A source told us: 'They have been back together for a while.
'The time apart gave them time to think about what they want and what is important to them — and that is being together.
'Ronnie is moving to the Middle East and Laila is going with him. They've talked about living in Dubai, which is just a two-hour flight from where Ronnie has his snooker academy in Saudi Arabia.
'He has spoken to people on his snooker circuit about the move and is excited about a clean break from the UK for him and Laila.
'They have had their issues in the past but Ronnie and Laila have worked through it and seem really happy again.
'The people who know them think they make a great couple and just want them to live a happy, quiet life.'
The Sun first revealed they had ended their engagement last September after his hectic work schedule pushed them apart.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Wales Online
an hour ago
- Wales Online
Strictly's Fleur East shares six-word verdict on BBC show's future after 'intense' comment
Strictly's Fleur East shares six-word verdict on BBC show's future after 'intense' comment Strictly Come Dancing star Fleur East, who made it to the final of the BBC show in 2022, has shared her thoughts on the future of the programme after an "intense" experience Fleur East has shared a six-word update on the future of Strictly Come Dancing (Image: Cameron Smith, Getty Images ) Fleur East has delivered a six-word assessment of Strictly's prospects after discussing the "intense bubble" she endured during her time on the reality show. The 37-year-old currently presents the Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Takes Two alongside professional dancer Janette Manrara, securing the position following her journey to the final as a competitor in 2022. Fleur, who first came to prominence on the X-Factor before stepping onto the dance floor, is recognised for her role on The Hits Radio Breakfast Show and has recently landed a part as Tina Turner in a West End production. Speaking about her experience on the hit BBC show, Fleur expressed satisfaction at being able to remain involved with the programme following her participation, observing that numerous former contestants described experiencing 'FOMO' (fear of missing out) after their departure. Fleur revealed to i Weekend: "It's an intense bubble that you're in when you do the show. I'm really pleased that I got the chance to work on it straight after I was on it because a majority of celebs say you get a real sense of FOMO the following year." Fleur rose to fame as a singer on the X-Factor (Image: Getty Images for The National Lo ) She was then quizzed on whether the popular BBC show had "clawed back its appeal". It comes after the programme was embroiled in a bullying scandal after actress made a string of complaints against dancer partner Giovanni Pernice. Article continues below The Italian professional dancer faced allegations of being "abusive" from Amanda, subsequently leading to a BBC investigation. An inquiry upheld six out of 17 complaints but cleared him of physical abuse allegations. Yet, in her response to the question, the magazine says Fleur "diplomatically dodges" whether the show has "clawed back its appeal" before speaking about the "joyous" nature of the much-loved dance contest. She added: "I think it's just like no other show. It's a really joyous show. It brings people together, it's fun, and I don't think it's going anywhere." In an interview with the Express this month, she offered a glimpse into her future career aspirations, revealing that she now has a "bit of the acting bug" and would like to take on a film role. Singer-songwriter Fleur went on to express her desire to portray a "powerful woman". Fleur spoke about the "joyous" nature of the much-loved dance contest (Image: Getty Images ) Later, she shared what advice she would give to her younger self if given the chance, including one "regret" she harbours. Fleur confessed that she used to be "scared of rejection". She said: "One regret I would say I have is that I was so nervous and so worried about what people would think of me. I was so scared of rejection for many years that I didn't step out and do the things that I wanted to do. "I wasn't brave enough for many years. And then the moment that I found the courage, I stepped into what I feel like I was always meant to do, and I loved every second of it." Article continues below Fleur East stars on Saturday Kitchen Live this morning (Saturday, July 5) at 10am on BBC One.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE I'm a female solo traveller who's been to more than 60 countries - here's how I stayed safe in Iraq
An American woman who grew up next to the Twin Towers in New York, and was just five when 9/11 happened, says she was forced to 'face her own biases' head on during an unexpected trip to Iraq – and details the extraordinary measures she took to protect her personal safety. Producer Molly McDonald, 29, was covering an 'England to Everest' charity trek for Blue Door Productions alongside ex-Royal Marine and explorer Mitch Hutchcraft when the group had to be diverted through Iraq – instead of Iran – over security fears. As 'a Western woman with a US accent' in the Middle Eastern country, Molly, who grew up in Battery Park in Manhattan, says she was anxious about her safety ahead of crossing the border into Iraqi Kurdistan. As the only woman in her group and with the UK Foreign Office strongly advising against travel there, Molly's family tried to persuade her to abandon the trip. However, the journalist, who's visited more than 60 countries, says she was determined to proceed and began putting in place a series of security measures designed to keep her safe as her group went from north to south on Iraq's eastern flank. Speaking to MailOnline, Molly says she forged a marriage certificate and wore a wedding ring despite not being married as she arrived in Erbil, which is the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. Perceptions of lone women travelling with men in the Middle Eastern country is that they are sex workers, she explains, saying she planned for the 'worst case scenarios' and put things in place to prevent them. Molly also created a cover story for herself, asking an older woman named Jacqui, who had lived in Iraq but fled to Britain when the ISIS conflict broke out in 2014, to accompany her, with the pair pretending they were related. She says: 'I was definitely apprehensive ahead of the trip, particularly when it came to more rural areas [of Iraq] where more minority extremist groups exist. 'As a woman when you do these missions abroad, there's always another layer that you think about - certainly when you're reaching countries that have different customs and belief systems about a woman's role in society'. The trip also proved a huge moment for Jacqui, who was returning after fleeing nine years ago. Jacqui had lived and worked in the country as a social responsibility consultant for five years, and had run aid programmes for those who'd been displaced from their homes between Erbil and the city of Dohuk in 2014. Molly says: 'She also had a lot of fear and trepidation, prepping me for what might happen including the customs of a younger woman travelling alone in a group of men and how that's perceived, which isn't always positively.' An Irish American, Molly also entered the country with her Irish passport so she wouldn't be identified as a US citizen. She tells MailOnline that, as a child who'd witnessed the aftermath of the September 11th terror attacks, she entered Iraq with her own prejudices. 'I grew up a couple of blocks from the site of 9/11, so I too had a lot of biases', saying even with her broad-horizons career making documentaries, it still wasn't entirely possible to put to one side the feelings about Iraq that she'd grown up with. However, there was one moment that changed everything - actually getting on Iraqi Kurdistani soil. One woman travelling with a group of men in Iraq are often perceived to be sex workers - during the trip Molly asked a fixer known as Jacqui to pretend to be an older female relative The group met a general major in the Peshmerga army, who told them they don't want to fight, only to protect their land and the environment The region's army has enlisted female soldiers since the 70s, with one telling Molly: 'We are all Peshmerga, we love our country, we love our land so we selected this way of life.' 'When we walked through the doors on landing, everything disappeared. My fears went away.' During the days that followed, she says she was able to have 'honest, open conversations with people from all walks of life' including a sheik, an activist veterinarian and Yazidi people, who were once the target of genocide by ISIS. In her ensuing YouTube video entitled 'The reality of Iraq changed me' which documents some of their journey, Molly and her colleagues meet a general major from the region's Peshmerga army, which protects the environment when not in military action has enlisted female soldiers since the 1970s. The Peshmerga fought against IS and managed to protect their region of Northern Iraq being overthrown. In the video, female soldiers tell Molly when she asks if it's difficult to recruit women: 'We are all Peshmerga, we love our country, we love our land so we selected this way of life.' Molly says: 'In my conversation with them, they talked about how fighting is not their first choice, they fight to protect and when it is absolutely necessary but they are not a fighting people'. Molly says growing up in New York, close to where the Twin Towers came down, meant she was very aware that she was arriving in Iraq with preconceived notions (Molly pictured on New York's Hudson River as a child) The initial fears over safety proved unfounded, with Molly feeling safe throughout - and now hoping for a return visit with family and friends Sights: a view of Shanidar cave, one of the stops on Molly's journey through Iraqi Kurdistan So impressed was Molly by her time in Iraqi Kurdistan, she says she now can't wait to take her partner and family members to the country to explore it more. 'Just a few weeks ago, I was back home at my grandparents' house in Ireland - they're in their 90s. To be able to show them our YouTube video, it was really moving for them. 'To have perceptions changed, to have more open mindedness on what the realities of that part of the world are – for them to say "I wish I had the chance to go there myself"'. She says the whole trip, in spite of her initial fears were eventually defined by 'warmth and hospitality', saying that the friendliness even surpassed 'that of Ireland'. Food and tea proved the leveller for Molly and her peers, she says, with it offered to them 'in abundance' during their travels. And while Molly dressed modestly, she discovered that in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, she didn't have to wear a headscarf – and the 'precautions that we had and were prepared for weren't needed'. Having open conversations about her own heritage saw her greeted with exclamations of 'We love New York, we can't wait to go there!'. The sunsets and sunrises, particularly in rural areas such as the Rawanduz Canyon were spectacular, says Molly The landscapes of the country were also thrilling, says Molly, describing beautiful sunrises and amazing ancient ruins – without the crowds that you might ordinarily get. Molly says her favourite place she visited was the striking Holy Yazidi site of Lalish Temple, which is located in the country's Nineveh Plains and dates back 4,000 years. Other highlights included the Erbil citadel, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the colourful Qaysari Bazaar and the Jalil Khayat Mosque. As their adventure continued, the group also took time to stop and visit some of Iraqi Kurdistan's other tourist attractions, including Rawanduz Canyon, Bekhal Waterfall and Shanidar Cave. She adds: 'There were striking valleys and hillscapes where you see these oil plants centred in the middle. It was a fascinating sight to see the chimneys bursting with flames in whatever would otherwise be an untouched rural landscape.' Iraq remains off the mainstream tourism map but Molly says she'll be back as soon as she can - and that the trip upturned any preconceived ideas she had about the country, reminding her that that's the beauty of travel.
Daily Mirror
5 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Lisa Snowdon' facelift confession - 'I love tweakments!'
This Morning regular Lisa Snowdon has opened up on why a person's choices, from a boob job or a facelift - are nobody else's business, as she discusses marriage and TV 'wobbles' Television and radio presenter Lisa Snowdon has been in the showbiz spotlight for more than three decades. Her rise to fame kicked off at just 19 when she was discovered dancing in a London club by a model scout, leading to a successful modelling career with appearances on the cover of top fashion magazines and campaigns for brands including Gucci and Dove. Transitioning to TV, Lisa has made her mark on iconic shows including Strictly, I'm A Celebrity, Celebrity MasterChef — which she won — and This Morning. She was also a presenter on Capital London's breakfast radio show for seven years. Lisa is also in a good place when it comes to love. When we catch up with the 53-year-old, e ngaged to long-time partner George Smart since 2016, she looks relaxed and happy — and tells us with a smile that the pair couldn't be more committed to each other, wedding rings or not. 'Listen, I love George so, so much,' she says. 'And I honestly don't think that having a marriage would change that love, you know. I don't think it would make it stronger.' While they have yet to tie the knot, Lisa insists the couple's bond runs deep. 'Being engaged already feels like a wedding to me. I really feel like we're committed to each other. I think we probably will get married at some point but there are just so many other things on our to-do list.' Known for their shared love of adventure, Lisa and George, 44, are often jet-setting around the globe, and the idea of a destination wedding certainly appeals. 'I went to a place in Italy recently, and I was like, 'Oh my God, this would be amazing for a wedding,'' she says. 'We do talk about it, we just haven't got around to planning it.' Despite the lack of a date, Lisa's commitment couldn't be clearer, as she jokes, 'He's my partner for life, so there's no way he's getting away from me and I'm getting away from him, regardless of whether we've got a contract.' Blissfully loved-up, it's no surpris e Lisa has a gorgeous glow, but she's refreshingly honest about the skin treatments that help maintain her beautiful complexion. She opens up about her love for 'tweakments', and reveals she has become obsessed with Morpheus8, which she describes as a 'deep, intense microneedling'. 'I love all that stuff. I think it's amazing, I think it's up to the individual what they want to do,' she says. 'If somebody's deeply unhappy and they want to do a neck lift, face lift, boob job or whatever to their body, it's totally up to them. And I think there are some amazing treatments, subtle and more extreme, that can be done. I'm open to all that. Absolutely.' On the career front, Lisa continues to shine, with her regular slot as a fashion expert on ITV 's This Morning a highlight. She says proudly, 'I think it must be coming up to 10 years that I've been on the show. Yes, it's been a long time. And what I guess I love about it is that I get to work with our viewers.' Walking us through the magic of the makeover — when a viewer gets transformed in her expert hands — she explains, 'You see them first thing, they come in their own clothes, we style them up, we get them into hair and make-up, we get them out on the catwalk. It's a beautiful, empowering moment for them. I love that part about my job. I'm a girls' girl and I love to empower women. Women supporting women is what I'm all about.' But even after years in the entertainment business, Lisa giggles that, when it comes to live television, anything can happen. 'I mean, live TV... there are always things that go wrong! You might say a word and think, 'Oh God, I didn't mean that,' but that's just live TV. And onceit's out there, it's done. There's no going back.' A seasoned presenter, Lisa takes the occasional hiccup in her stride, but she also confesses quietly that her turbulent journey through perimenopause really affected her confidence on-camera. 'I was in the depths of perimenopause and the brain fog was there, and I was a bit like a rabbit in the headlights a couple of times. When I look back at it, you can't tell, but in my head, I was like… panic. There were a couple of shows where I felt a bit... wobbly.' But now, she says, 'I just feel really blessed that I've had a very long career and that I'm still enjoying it.' Although she's always been 'go go go' when it comes to work, she does try to strike a healthy work-life balance and reconnect with her fiancé after a busy week. 'That's something that we really aspire to have,' she says. 'Last week, for example, I was on a train a lot. I was up and down and I had to stay away one night, but we made up for it when I had a weekend off. We always kind of reconnect. It's a good work-life balance, which is something I've really wanted to get hold of, because otherwise, what's the point?' Lisa has spoken openly in the past about not having children, which she details in her book Just Getting Started . She says writing about that journey was an emotional and healing process for her. 'I think I came to terms with that, and it was really powerful when I wrote my book. I just really got a lot of that out. Writing about it was super cathartic.' Now, Lisa is busy hosting her podcast with Andy Goldstein, We're Not Getting Any Younger, and has some new work projects coming up that are 'very exciting'. 'But sorry,' she adds, ' I can't reveal anything just yet!' She tells us she has also partnered with Zespri SunGold kiwifruit as she continues to advocate for health and wellness. 'Diet is so important to feeling good,' she says. 'And just one of these golden fruits gives me all I need to tackle the day.'
