Coleen Nolan has made no secret of the fact she struggles with confidence in romantic relationships after suffering betrayal and heartbreak at the hands of her exes.
Now, as she prepares to move in with Michael Jones, the boyfriend she met on Tinder in 2020, a source has exclusively told OK! that her insecurities may be bubbling up to the surface again.
“There’s a little bit of fear of moving in together from Coleen,” our source claimed. “They’re a great couple, but it’s just the fear that when someone’s over-nice, you think, ‘I’m not used to this.’”
Coleen, 58, and Michael, 57, went public with their relationship in January last year, but split up six months later, with the Loose Women favourite admitting she was “freaked out” and “not used to” a partner showing affection.
But this June they announced they’d rekindled their romance and Coleen said she had “never been happier”.
Our source said, “She needed time to think about the other side – when the partner’s not being faithful. She’s had all that with Shane [Richie, her ex-husband], but realised Michael wouldn’t treat her that way.
“Sometimes you don’t realise you like to be loved, and I think that is definitely the case with Coleen. And the kids are supportive and like him.”
Following her reunion with Michael, Coleen couldn’t hide her happiness as she shared the news with her loyal Loose Women audience.
“I’ve never been with anyone who’s made me feel that 100%,” she said. “Now that I have truly opened myself up to it, I have never been happier.”
Last week Coleen said that as her 22-year-old daughter Ciara is planning to go travelling with her boyfriend Max in January, it was the perfect time to take the next step with supermarket logistics worker Michael.
“Obviously, they had a break and she’s said it was because she was scared – he was so lovey-lovey and she wasn’t used to that,” said our source. “But she’s also excited to be moving in with him.”
Coleen has spoken about having her heart broken in the past by partners whose cheating made her feel like a “paranoid mad woman”.
She was married to EastEnders actor Shane, now 59, for nine years until 1999, but their relationship was plagued by betrayal and heartache.
She then went on to marry musician Ray Fensome, father of her daughter Ciara, in 2007, only to divorce 11 years later.
Coleen recently took the blame for her and Michael’s previous break-ups, saying she struggled to accept he was so different from her exes. “I thought, ‘I don’t know why he loves me as much.’ It was just me,” she said this month.
She went on to say that every time they split, she would desperately miss him, adding she realised she needed to “sort my head out and accept that I deserve to be and can be loved like that”.
At one of her darkest moments during her marriage to Shane – Albert Square’s lovable rogue Alfie Moon – she was sent a newspaper story about Louise Tyler, a dancer who was appearing in pantomime with him. The clipping came with an anonymous note that read, “You need to know your husband is seeing this woman.”
Coleen, who has sons Shane Jr, 34, and Jake, 30, with the actor, said he denied the affair and accused her of being paranoid.
But her worst fears were confirmed when she discovered he was having an affair with the dancer.
“Years later I used to watch Shane playing Alfie Moon in EastEnders and it would send a shiver up my spine,” she wrote in her 2009 autobiography, Upfront And Personal .
“He would be exactly the same. The same earnest eyes convincing you he was telling the truth, the same look of utter devastation and sorrow when he cried.”
Now, with two divorces already under her belt, Coleen is understandably wary.
Michael has said he and Coleen felt an “instant connection” on their first date in a local pub after meeting on Tinder.
But despite enjoying a healthy sex life and Michael telling the Celebrity Big Brother winner that he loved her, they split just a few months into the relationship after Coleen reportedly struggled to accept his attention as genuine.
“She was with Shane Richie for years and people get used to being treated a certain way,” said our source. “I think she couldn’t believe how loving Michael is and it felt a bit claustrophobic for her at first.
“But then when they broke it off she realised that she had a really good person.”
It sounds like you’ve got something special Coleen – we’re happy for you.
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