The Bowel Babe star gave him ‘strict instructions’ before she passed away

The husband of the late Dame Deborah James appears to have found love following the cancer campaigner’s death.

This weekend, three years after the death of Bowel Babe Deborah, Sebastien Bowen was seen holding hands with a mystery brunette.

Ahead of her death at the age of 40 in June 2022, selfless Deborah told Sebastien that she wanted him to move on and find love after her death. And it appears the father of two has done just that…

Deborah James told husband Sebastien she wanted him to move on (Credit: YouTube)

Dame Deborah James’ husband ‘moves on’

Sebastien was pictured holding hands and walking arm-in-arm with a woman as they enjoyed lunch at the River Cafe in London’s Hammersmith.

One passerby told the Mail: “They looked like they were very much in love. It was very sweet. For anyone who was inspired by Dame Deborah’s attitude to life, it was really heartening to see her husband looking happy again.”

Sebastien was given strict instructions over who he couldn’t date, though (Credit: YouTube)

‘I want him to move on’

Late last year it was reported that Sebastien – who shared son Hugo, 17, and daughter Eloise, 15, with Deborah – was dipping his toe back in the dating scene.

Find someone else who can make you laugh like we did.

Speaking in the months before her death on You, Me And The Big C podcast, Dame Deborah said: “I have given him strict instructions. I want him to move on. He’s a handsome man. I’m like: ‘Don’t be taken for a ride, don’t marry a bimbo. Find someone else who can make you laugh like we did.’”

She also joked that there were a couple of people she didn’t want him to hook up with. And, if he did, she promised to do her “damned hardest to haunt him”.

‘He has our blessing’

In 2023, Dame Deborah’s mother Heather gave Sebastien her “blessing” to move on with his life.

She shared: “Deborah will be a hard act to follow. But he has our blessing.”