Love Island star Chris Hughes recalls ‘s***storm’ after Jesy Nelson split as he opens up on mental health

Chris Hughes has described life as a ‘s***storm’ after splitting from girlfriend Jesy Nelson last year.

The Love Island star began dating the former Little Mix singer in January 2019 and their relationship appeared to be going well until their split was revealed in April 2020. 

Looking back on their split, Chris admits it took a toll on his mental health as he tried to recover from the heartbreak in lockdown during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. 

He told The Sun On Sunday: ‘It was a tough period in a lot of people’s personal lives and it was for me too, as break-ups are never easy.

‘It was difficult. Sometimes you just grow apart. There have definitely been days when I wake up and things haven’t felt great.’ 

He continued: ‘The period 12 months ago was really tough. There were days where I was waking up and our split was the first thing I was thinking about.

‘I was thinking, “I hope I feel good today. I hope mentally I feel all right”. I had to try my hardest mentally to break the cycle.’ 

‘Life was a s**tstorm,’ he added.

Chris, 28, revealed that he and Jesy, 29, are still ‘good friends’ and ‘enjoyed’ their time together. 

‘I look back and I don’t look at ­anything with regret,’ he stated.

The reality star added: ‘We still support each other and it was just a period in life where you move on. But it’s nice to look back on the good memories of my relationships with Jesy and there were plenty of good times. There’s no reason to not like each other.’ 

It comes after Chris recently revealed he is single and, like many others, has struggled to date with lockdown measures. 

The TV star recently told Metro.co.uk: ‘I’m very single at the moment, I’m not talking to anybody. 

‘I would love to say I was dating and very happy in love but I’m happy, I’m just not in love. 

‘I haven’t got anything really exciting to report. It’s hard at the moment, it’s hard to actually go and date. I like to go and meet people in person, I think you can gauge a very different personality in person than when you do over the internet or by phone or text.’ 

Chris added: ‘But hopefully one day we can go freely and safely meet people and date them. 

‘At the moment I’ve got no one in my old love life.’

Following their split, Jesy went on to date Our Girl actor Sean Sagar but they split late last year. 

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