The estranged husband ofStrictly Come Dancing professional Karen Hauer has claimed that the BBC dancing show had a role to play in their split.

Last month, it was reported that Venezuelan dancer Hauer – the show’s longest-serving professional – and businessman Jordan Wyn-Jones parted ways last month after marrying in summer 2022. Hauer competed on the current series of Strictly with comedian Eddie Kadi, with the pair becoming the fourth couple to leave the competition.

In a new interview with The Mail on Sunday, Wyn-Jones said that while he will always “admire” Hauer’s career, it “took her away” from him.

He began: “It’s a bit of a love story, a sad story. I’m incredibly sad not to be in Karen’s life, and not on this journey with her but we’re not right for each other in terms of her career.”

“I will always admire her for her career but it took her away from me a lot,” he said. “She’d be away and I’d be at home on my own.”

Wyn-Jones added that he “admires” Hauer for being so career-driven, but eventually, it turned out they “wanted different things”, especially when it came to deciding whether to have children together. “There was a plan about having children but then there wasn’t a plan,” he claimed.

Wyn-Jones said that he had previously expressed a desire to have children with Hauer, but was left shocked when he read a magazine interview where she reportedly said that kids were not in her future.

The Independent has contacted Hauer’s representatives for comment.

“You do say things like, ‘I want to have kids’. And she’d mentioned to me that she wanted to have kids with me. But in the interview, Karen said ‘kids aren’t in the future’ – which made me sad. I’d always wanted to be a father.

“I’d become vacant in our relationship. I was loving and so caring for her but I was vacant because of the situation that we found ourselves in.”

Wyn-Jones claimed that he and Hauer met to discuss the magazine interview eight weeks ago, when they both eventually admitted that their marriage was over.

“There were tears on both sides. A lot of tears of sadness,” he told the publication. “We didn’t want to let go of each other but we’re also not right for each other.”

The businessman added that if they had stayed together and not had children, he would have ended up “resenting her”.

“This is the perfect moment for us to love each other and leave each other,” he said.

The pair originally met after exchanging messages online for about six months before Wyn-Jones moved from Australia to the UK to live with Hauer.

However, Wyn-Jones said he does not blame the so-called “Strictly curse”, a fan theory that participating in Strictly (whether as a celebrity or a professional dancer) threatens the status of the relationship you’re in when you sign up.

“We used to laugh about the Strictly curse because it’s so silly,” Wyn-Jones told the publication. “Karen doesn’t have it in her to be unfaithful and dishonest – she’s just not that person. I just trusted her. It was never a thing in our relationship when I met her I knew who she was.”

“She’s very proud to be the show’s longest-serving professional. She’s worked very hard and she’s so good, she’s such a professional.”

He told the paper: “I see it as a love story. We are going to remain friends. We haven’t filed for divorce yet but there’s nothing to fight over or to be concerned about. We will text and it’s all lovely and nice.

Hauer was previously married to former Strictly professional Kevin Clifton for three years before they split in March 2018. Clifton is now in a relationship with TV presenter Stacey Dooley and they share one child together. The pair met on the set of Strictly.

Read about all of the Strictly “curses” so far, here.

Strictly Come Dancing continues Sunday 12 November at 7.20pm on BBC One.

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