Entertainment

Ben Foden wants Una Healey in the crowd for his X Factor live shows

He is competing with fellow rugby players Thom Evans and Levi Davis as Try Star.
He is competing with fellow rugby players Thom Evans and Levi Davis as Try Star. He is competing with fellow rugby players Thom Evans and Levi Davis as Try Star.

Ben Foden has said he wants his ex-wife Una Healey in the audience when he sings during the X Factor: Celebrity live shows.

The former England rugby star, 34, was married to the Saturdays star, 38, for six years and they share two children.

The pair divorced a year ago and Foden remarried over summer – deciding to tie the knot with Jackie Belanoff Smith, from Nantucket in Massachusetts, after two weeks of dating.

Mums List Premiere – London
Mums List Premiere – London Una Healy (Ian West/PA)

Foden said he was unsure whether Healey would want to watch him perform, but said he would “love” to have his children in the audience.

He said: “My parents don’t really understand the show.

“But obviously my kids, I’d love to get them down to the show.

“Err, I’ll ask Una whether she’ll come or not, and then we’ll see.

“Obviously my wife will come as well and she’ll support me.”

Foden will compete with fellow rugby players Thom Evans and Levi Davis as Try Star.

X Factor 2019
X Factor 2019 Thom Evans, Levi Davis and Ben Foden as Try Star (Syco/Thames/PA)

He said: “Una was always really supportive of me doing singing and stuff.

“I did shows. I did singing on All Together Now and League Of Their Own, and Una was always very supportive of me doing that.

“She’d always coach me a little bit. But she doesn’t have very much patience with me because I’m not the best singer.

“And, she’d be like: ‘Do this’ and I’m like: ‘I don’t know what that is’.

“And she’d be like: ‘Everyone knows what that is in the singing industry’.”

Healy and Foden married in Ireland in 2012 after four years of dating.

They welcomed daughter Aoife shortly before they got married, and son Tadhg in 2015.