Ore Oduba is going through a divorce from his wife, Portia, and has opened up about how the split is impacting him day-to-day. The former Strictly champ, 39, made an appearance on the Extraordinary Life Stories podcast, revealing: "My wife and I split up 12 months ago. And the life before that and the life that I've grown into are just … entirely different.
"There's nothing, there are no similarities whatsoever," he added, saying that this upheaval has been "painful" but that in recent times he has felt like he has "found himself". Ore and Portia met in 2010 when they were both students at Loughborough University and tied the knot in 2015. They share a son, Roman, born in 2018, and a four-year-old Genie.
Ore also spoke about how his divorce followed the death of his father two years ago and how this made him reconsider his life. "My dad died in October 2023. And in the process of our mourning and our grieving and our going to the funeral back in Nigeria, where he lived, I realised I had lived my entire life to that point in fear. Crippling fear," the The One Show presenter admitted. "For the first time, I was able to look at my life as it was now, you know, oh, okay, things had to change. And I started pressing some red buttons in my life, some self-destruct buttons, because I knew that I couldn't carry on as it was."
Portia on 'treading water' after split
Following Ore and Portia's split, the couple sold their £935,000 home in Kent. Speaking about her experience, Portia said on Instagram: "What I'm going through is one of the most stressful things that you can ever go through - doing the daily grind, looking after the kids and being present," she said.
"It just feels sometimes like you are constantly treading water, and sometimes I just feel like "Oh My God. I can't do this any more. I'm done". It gets you down a bit. I genuinely am a positive person but…I'm not the first - won't be the last. So many lovely people message me to share their stories and tell me what they are going through."
Ore opens up about fatherhood
Prior to the birth of his second child in 2021, Ore opened up about the new chapter in an exclusive interview with HELLO! and how welcoming a new baby after the Covid-19 lockdown tested their relationship. "The last year has been the biggest test of our entire relationship," Ore admitted. "I thought I'd be terrified [at having a second child], but after this year, I say: 'Bring it on!' If we can do 14 months of lockdowns, having two children is nothing – says the man who doesn't yet have two children! We're thrilled."