Celebrity Bear Hunt's Una Healy's sad confession about single mum life as she poses with rarely-seen kids
Una Healy, the former Saturdays singer, has opened up about the realities of being a single mum to her two children, Aoife, 12, and Tadhg, 10. Despite the challenges, she insists she's not playing the 'poor me' card. The star, who divorced rugby player Ben Foden in 2018, tells us during our exclusive photoshoot that she's currently "very happy on her own". "I have lots of friends in the same position, I'm not 'poor me'," she shares. "Divorce is a difficult, heartbreaking process whether you're in the public eye or not. But you move on – there's no point dwelling on the past."
Co-parenting with Ben, who lives in the US with his wife Jackie and their daughters Farrah, four, and one year old Olympia, is more challenging. "I get on with Ben as best I can for the sake of the children. I want them to love him and for him to be there as much as he can for them. It's unfortunate that he lives so far away. "We don't have the 'every other weekend' set-up. He sees them at Christmas and in the summer. But Ben's considering moving back to the UK and I really hope he does. It would be better for everyone."
Una, one of the celebrities braving the Costa Rican jungle in new Netflix reality show Celebrity Bear Hunt, enjoys a much more low-key life now than when she was performing in pop group The Saturdays, who have been on hiatus since 2014. The 43-year-old, who has been based in Ireland since 2020 following her painful divorce, says that although she still enjoys a showbiz party, she loves her way of life in her hometown, Thurles, more.
“My life is so... normal. I’m living in the house I grew up in. Aoife goes to my old school, and Tadhg goes to the boys’ school in town. They’re proper Irish kids now, though they were born in the UK. Tadhg loves his hurling. It’s very cute.” Despite arriving in Ireland with “full-on” English accents, the children now have a stronger Irish accent than she does, Una says. “They love it here. They’re really happy and it’s a quiet, slow-paced life. My two don’t even remember The Saturdays. I’m not ‘cool’, I’m just ‘Mammy’ here.”
Una is pleased that pre-teen Aoife isn’t growing up too fast. “She loves her skincare routine, but not the make-up. She says, ‘Mammy, why on earth do people want to put make-up on and meet boys?’ I thought, ‘That’ll change soon!’“ Neither of her children are showing signs of wanting to follow in their mum’s musical footsteps, although she’d support them if they did. Una was learning the guitar at her daughter’s age, but Aoife is more interested in Gaelic football and horse-riding.
As a single mum, Una says it can be difficult to get time to herself. “I feel guilty if I’m away for a night,” she says. “My parents help me a lot, but they’re in their seventies now, so I don’t get the guilt-free weekend breaks my other mum friends might.” But when the children are away spending time with their father, she misses them. Last Christmas, they spent the festive season in Cheshire with Ben’s family and his parents.
There’s a note of sadness as Una says, “As a mother it’s never going to be natural to wake up on Christmas morning and not hear your children’s excited voices.” Una, who recently split from her boyfriend of several months, retired jockey Aidan Coleman, confirms she’s single and “very happy on her own right now”, but adds that if she wanted to get out on the dating scene again, it could be tough logistically. “I’m chilling at home a lot when I’m not working,” she says.
She and Aidan remain good friends – something she values as much as romance. “There’s a lot of emphasis on romantic relationships, but a lot of my childhood friends, who have been through everything with me, are like my soulmates. One day, yes, I would like to find my person, but I’m very whole as I am, with my beautiful children.”
In complete contrast to her relaxed home life, how did Una fare in the Costa Rican jungle, with adventurer and survival expert Bear Grylls chasing after her and her fellow celebrity competitors? “The location was like something out of Moana. All you could hear was the sound of the Pacific ocean, although it’s shark-infested, so we couldn’t go in for a dip,” she says. “Danny [Cipriani] did at one point – we were screaming, ‘Get back, are you mad?!’”
Una loved the physical challenges the show presented, but admits it was very scary at points, saying, “Some things we did were potentially life-threatening.” She recalls, “I swam in a crocodile-infested river – but the adrenaline kicks in. I was a competitive swimmer as a kid, so that helped.”
There were other brushes with local wildlife, such as a jaguar prowling near the group’s lodge, picked up by one of the camp cameras. “I go to the toilet at 3am every night, like clockwork, so walking there in the dark was interesting. Luckily, nothing came after me – but that possibility was always there.”
Her most challenging moment was when she came down with a bad tummy bug three days in. “I didn’t know how I was going to do it, with the heat and humidity. I did have a little cry. I felt so low and weak and homesick.”
As for Bear, Una describes him as a bit of an enigma, swooping in to give them a challenge, some wise words, then disappearing again. Presenter Holly Willoughby, she says, would come into camp to reveal the group’s next task, and they’d all be excited to see what she was wearing next. “She’s so pretty and she rocked the tropical vibes. She was lovely. Calm and very compassionate.”
Una didn’t have any dramatic clashes with anyone on the show – but one challenge, she admits, created some major fallouts. “It was a nasty challenge, as we all had to sabotage each other. But that’s the competition – it didn’t feel personal.” The campmates she forged the best friendships with, she tells us, were Lottie Moss, Steph McGovern and former Spice Girl Mel B.
“I was so starstruck when I met Mel,” Una giggles. “I was trying to be cool, but the fangirling! I told her, ‘I never really had posters on my wall growing up, but I had a Spice Girls one.’ She’s great.” Now that Una has survived one of the most extreme reality shows on TV, what’s next?
“Music – that’s my passion and my focus this year. I want to put out some new original material, so I’m in the studio soon. I have some great gigs and festivals coming up, including the Mighty Hoopla in London, which will be so much fun.” Asked if she’d be up for a reunion with The Saturdays, Una smiles. “I’d love it. It would be important to be all five of us, though. All the girls are doing so well and may not have the time - but maybe one day. I really hope so!”
Celebrity Bear Hunt is available to stream now on Netflix
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