Coronation Street legend 'finds love again' after split from husband of 20 years

Wendi Peters as Cilla Battersby-Brown on Corrie in 2007 -Credit:ITV/ Rex/ Shutterstock
Wendi Peters as Cilla Battersby-Brown on Corrie in 2007 -Credit:ITV/ Rex/ Shutterstock


Wendi Peters, famed for her role as the outspoken Cilla Battersby-Brown on Coronation Street, appears to have found love again after her marriage split – and has made it Instagram official with her new beau.

The soap favourite is now said to be dating carpet fitter Gareth Wale for a few months, with Wendi seemingly introducing Gareth to her family.

The 56-year-old actress, who bid farewell to the Weatherfield cobbles a decade ago and currently appears in the soon-to-be-cancelled Doctors, has been enjoying some swoon-worthy dates with Gareth.

Over Easter, the couple took a dreamy getaway to the Cotswolds, where Wendi shared photos with her followers.

Wendi went Instagram official with her new beau
Coronation Street icon Wendi Peters has reportedly found love again after her split from her husband of 20 years -Credit:Instagram

This fresh romance comes after Wendi's split from her former partner Kenny Linden after 20 years.

An insider told The Sun at the time: “Wendi and Kenny were together for a long time and had a mostly happy marriage but grew apart.

"Wendi is focusing on her new role in Doctors and looking ahead to the future.”

According to the insider at the time, the couple’s grown up daughter, fellow actress Gracie is still living with her father, with the couple having previously gone through seven rounds of IVF in order to conceive her.

Away from his life as an actor and masseuse, Kenny was recently registered blind due to a rare hereditary condition PXE (pseudoxanthoma elasticum), which affects only around 1,500 people in the UK.

It isn’t the only health battle Kenny has faced in recent years either, as Wendi also opened up about a previous health scare he had suffered during a 2014 interview.

She previously said: "We had been together six months when we visited my parents and Kenny said he wasn't feeling well," says Wendi.

"Then he had a major stomach haemorrhage and vomited blood all over their downstairs loo.

"He frightened us all and we took him to hospital where doctors gave him a blood transfusion and stopped the blood loss.”

Over the years, Wendi has starred in a number of TV shows, but most notably, she played Cilla in Coronation Street from 2003 until 2007, and then again in 2014.