Where it all went wrong for Vernon Kay and Tess Daly
Where it all went wrong for Vernon Kay and Tess Daly
Liam KellySat, May 9, 2026 at 3:14 PM UTC
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Tess Daly and Vernon Kay have announced an ‘amicable’ split – much to social media’s despair - Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images for Bafta
The demise of Tess Daly and Vernon Kay’s 22-year marriage is not just the end of what appeared to be an idyllic relationship, but also the breaking up of a British light-entertainment power couple.
Daly, the erstwhile Strictly Come Dancing presenter, and Kay, the BBC Radio 2 host, shocked their millions of fans when they announced that they had split on Friday evening. This being 2026, the announcement took the inevitable form of an earnest, polished statement posted on each of their Instagram accounts.
“After much consideration, and with a deep sense of care and respect for one another, we have made the decision to separate amicably,” it began. “This has not been an easy choice, but it comes from a place of mutual understanding and a shared desire for what is best for both of us. We remain great friends and more importantly, fully committed to our roles as loving and supportive parents, which will always be our priority.” Daly, 57, and Kay, 52, have two daughters – Phoebe, 21, and Amber, 16 – together.
In an apparent effort to prevent the rumour mill going into overdrive – and to stop speculation that either of them had been playing away – the pair added, “There are no other parties involved in this decision. We kindly ask for privacy during this time as we navigate this transition together. We will not be making any further public comments.”
While the impending divorce of the face of Wellwoman multivitamins and the man who came third in the 2020 edition of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! is hardly Charles and Diana stuff, the news has nonetheless been received with much melancholy. On social media, fan responses to the split ranged from “caught me completely off guard” to “this is earth-shattering news”.
‘Two of the most popular people in show business’: Reaction on social media is of disappointment and sadness - BBC
“People are surprised,” says Jonathan Shalit, the celebrity agent and founder of InterTalent Rights Group who also knows the couple. “With some people you hear lots of rumours, so that when it happens, you expect it. But with them, everyone would have assumed their marriage had been rock solid. No one saw this coming, and they’re both really nice people. The only word I can use is ‘sad’. They’re two of the most popular people in show business.”
So, what went wrong? Much speculation, both online and in the more hysterical parts of the tabloid press, points to the fact that Daly has stepped down from Strictly after two decades, finding herself at something of a crossroads. It has been variously reported in recent months that Daly either wanted to use her new-found free time to go on a “grown-up gap year” – and that Kay wasn’t keen on leaving his job for such a long time to go with her – or that she wanted the pair of them to enhance their status as a media power couple by hosting ITV’s This Morning and he didn’t much fancy that, either. Kay appears happy at Radio 2, where he has settled in as a popular replacement for Ken Bruce.
Happy and settled: Vernon Kay replaced Ken Bruce on the mid-morning Radio 2 show in 2023 - BBC/PA
As any number of middle-aged folk would tell you, getting into your 50s and changing jobs may make you reassess other parts of your life. “You think: what’s going on? Is she going through a bit of a midlife crisis? There is always a sort of tension with showbiz couples when one of the partners doesn’t do as well as the other,” says a long-time celebrity adviser. “I think [the split] allows each one of them to go off and prove their stuff.” As Hollywood’s favourite “normal” couple Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban recently proved, it can be difficult for two very famous people to remain married to one another – especially as work and travel commitments stack up.
The Sun quoted a source suggesting that Kay and Daly had merely grown apart after so many years together. “Vernon is a real social butterfly, he loves going to parties with [daughter] Phoebe and hanging out with her doing things, while Tess is a bit more of a homebody.”
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‘We instantly had such a blast together’: Daly and Kay met at a relatively mature age in 2001 - William Conran/PA Images
Part of the reason for such surprise at the split is that Kay and Daly had seemed like a rock-solid couple. Unlike many celebrity pairings, they met at a relatively mature age (he was in his late 20s, while she was in her early 30s) and initially bonded over being northern interlopers in the London media world (he was presenting on T4, while she was on The Big Breakfast). “It was all quite immediate, really, because we instantly had such a blast together,” Daly later recalled. “I couldn’t imagine having more fun with anyone else. It was pretty explosive.”
Kay has said similar. “I was instantly attracted by how independent Tess was, and that’s not changed at all.” He proposed on Christmas Day in 2002 and they got married in Horwich, near where Kay grew up in Lancashire, the following September. They had a Volkswagen camper van as their wedding car.
The couple were married in September 2003 in Kay’s hometown Horwich, near Bolton - PA/PA Archive
Despite the picture-perfect appearance of their relationship, Daly and Kay have endured some very public low points together. Most notorious was when Kay admitted that he had been sending explicit texts to Rhian Sugden, a Page 3 glamour model, after meeting her in a Bolton nightclub in 2010. It later emerged that Kay had been engaged in flirty correspondence with “four or five girls”, and he apologised live on Radio 1. “You may or may not be aware that because of some foolish and stupid decisions I have made, I have disappointed and I have let down a lot of people,” he said. “To my family and everybody, I am very sorry.”
Kay added: “Tess is extremely upset about this and we’re working through it. But in some ways I’m glad this story has come out. It feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I knew it was getting silly. I’m never going to do it again and hopefully I can clear the slate clean and start again.” The couple appeared to work past it, and three years later Kay surprised Daly by arranging for them to renew their wedding vows while on holiday in the south of France.
Kay is hugged by Daly after completing the London Triathlon in 2010 – the year he admitted to sending explicit text messages to other women - Lewis Whyld/PA Archive
The pair have made a habit of not speaking publicly about the episode, but Daly obliquely referenced it in a 2017 interview. “All marriages have their moments. Marriage is a work in progress. Vernon and I are just people at the end of the day.”
It is unclear when they decided to call time on their long partnership. They hosted an episode of The One Show together in February, one of the first times they had actually been on screen together, and were on holiday in the Caribbean just a few weeks ago – although, as has been pointed out in the red-top papers, the photos they posted online did not feature the other person.
‘There is always a sort of tension with showbiz couples when one of the partners doesn’t do as well as the other’: Daly was recognised with an MBE last year - Eddie Mulholland
If reports are to be believed, the couple are at peace with their decision to part ways and divorce proceedings will not be acrimonious.
“Tess and Vernon are actually really, really happy now,” the Daily Mail quoted a “friend” of the pair as saying. “They’re still living together for now, though that will of course change in the near future. The girls were very much part of the decision. They had grown apart, they are different to when they first met. They acknowledged that and decided life would be better if they were to split. They are both in their 50s, they have so much time left and they have decided they would be happier not being together so that’s what they’ve done. It is all very, very amicable.”
So, it seems unlikely that the pair will publicly comment on the split beyond Friday’s statement. Perhaps we’ll have to wait until Daly is photographed on that dreamed-of “gap year”, or Kay slips up and makes a comment on the radio.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
