Singer and television presenter Coleen Nolan has opened up about splitting from her partner Michael Jones, who she had dated for three years and shared the sad reason why they parted ways

Coleen Nolan has split with her partner of three years – as she embraces single life on her new farm.

The Loose Women favourite recently parted ways with Michael Jones, citing her busy lifestyle as the reason as she juggles work with settling into her new home. Mum-of-three Coleen, 59, says breaking up was “sad” – but insists it ended on good terms. “We’ve decided that we would rather just stay friends, take it as a friendship,” says Coleen, who started dating the supermarket logistics worker in 2021.

“It’s nothing to do with anyone else, it’s nobody’s fault. But I’m really busy and when I’m not really busy with work I’m busy on the farm and I feel personally that I can’t give time to everything. We still get along great and hopefully we can continue to be friends, who knows?”

It wouldn’t be the first time Coleen says pals with an ex – she counts her two former husbands, actor Shane Richie and musician Ray Fensome, among her best friends. “I think that comes from age and experience,” she tells our sister title OK! magazine. “With it being my 60th next year I think, ‘I haven’t got time, life’s too short.’ I mean, I hope I have lots of time but I’m not 20 any more, I don’t want to wait for two years and see what happens.

Coleen has just bought a gorgeous farmhouse ( 
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Coleen and her daughter inside her stunning home ( 
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OK! Magazine /David Cummings)

“I’m not going to say it wasn’t sad, because of course it was. But I really hope that once that sadness goes away we can continue to be friends. I don’t regret any of it, it was fabulous. Michael came along at just the right time for me and I think over the last three-and-a-half years we’ve helped each other grow.

“I always choose to focus on the times that were great, not the sad ending. The last two years of both my marriages were probably horrendous, but equally, the 10 years before were fantastic, so I’d rather focus on that.” Another focus of Coleen’s is her new six-acre house in Staffordshire and realising “her dream” of owning a real farm, which she shares with daughter Ciara and her fiancé Max.

Coleen outside her stunning farmhouse ( 
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OK! Magazine / David Cummings)
She even wants to turn her life on the farm into a reality show. “Even when I was little and I was with my sisters, Dad would say to me, ‘You just need to be on a farm, you need to be with animals.’ I can still hear him saying it,” says Coleen, who was a member of the pop group The Nolans with her sisters.

Her life on the farm spends three to four hours a day mucking out and feeding the animals – and she says there’s huge freedom in that. “It’s just a wonderful feeling, it really is my happy place,” she beams. “The best thing about it is, the animals don’t care whether I’ve got make-up on, or what I’m wearing. As long as I’m giving them food, letting them out or taking them for a walk, they don’t care about anything else.

Coleen is throwing herself into family life with daughter Ciara living very close to her farm house ( 
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OK! Magazine / David Cummings)

“Because I’m in an industry that is fabulous, but also means you’re judged by everything you do, being on the farm where nothing matters and no one is judging me is a wonderful feeling.” With three horses, five dogs, six cats, five ducks, two cockerels, four hens and five pygmy goats – life is busy. Ciara, 23, lives in what used to be a separate Airbnb home on the plot with Max.

“If I had to have neighbours, they’d be the ones I’d want,” she says. “Although I think they think I’m the local Tesco Express because Ciara will come up and leave with a Tesco bag of whatever she’s found in my fridge. But then she’s like my local restaurant because I’ll go up there for my dinner and then come home again. So, I can’t really complain when she comes and steals the ingredients.” Ciara – whose dad is Ray – is also loving their new dynamic.

“I’m absolutely loving living here,” she says. “It went from a house to a home within a couple of days. We’re actually living my dream life, too, and I’m so grateful. I couldn’t be more proud of her. I look out my window in the morning and can see the horses and it’s the best feeling.” Coleen has two older children, Jake and Shane, who she shares with her first husband, EastEnders actor Shane.

The singer and actress is preparing for her 60th birthday ( 
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OK! Magazine /David Cummings)

Ciara often visits her mums home and leaves with a bag full of shopping from the fridge ( 
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OK! Magazine / David Cummings)
As well as turning 60 in March, next year officially marks 25 years of Coleen’s time on Loose Women, having joined the show in its very first year on air. Looking back over her time on the ITV panel show, Coleen said: “My whole life has changed since then, I’ve lived my life on Loose Women and equally I’ve learnt a lot and I’ve grown a lot. When I think back to my opinions on certain things 24 years ago compared to my opinions now, they’re so different. I look back sometimes and think, ‘Why would I have ever thought that?’ But I was in my early thirties when I started, and now I’m nearly 60. I’ve had kids who’ve taught me so much, life has changed and the world has changed. I’m so much more confident now in who I am.”

Coleen with her daughter, Clara, at home ( 
Image:
OK! Magazine / David Cummings)
While she wouldn’t change anything about her time on the panel, the only thing Coleen doesn’t enjoy so much now is how “restricted” the panellists are. “Back then, you could say what you wanted, and while people might not have agreed with you, it didn’t mean you were ‘cancelled’ or never going to work again. Now we have to be really careful, and edit ourselves. That’s the only slightly negative change. I’ve still loved every minute of it.”

Supporting her Loose Women pal Ruth Langsford after her split from husband Eamonn Holmes, Coleen says she’s in “awe” of how she’s handled the situation. “She’s such a dignified lady and she looks the best she’s ever looked, in my opinion. She’s a trooper, and I’ll always be there for her.”

Ruling out following friend Jane Moore into the I’m A Celebrity jungle, Coleen does have a new TV project in mind. “I’m in awe of them all, I’d have made Dean [McCullough] look good. You think he can scream? You should hear me. No, I’d much rather do a reality show about life on the farm. That’s the next big dream.” Read Coleen’s full interview in OK! magazine, out Tuesday.