Coleen Nolan has confessed that she "cried her eyes out" when her ex-husband Shane Richie expressed his desire to take their young sons on a trip with his new partner.

The pop star and the EastEnders actor tied the knot in 1990 and had two sons together, Jake and Shane Jr. However, their marriage ended in 1997 after Coleen found out about Shane's affair with another woman.

In her autobiography published in 2009, Coleen revealed that Shane was in Manchester performing as Danny Zuko in Grease at the time, while she and their children were living in the south. It was during this period that Coleen began to suspect something was amiss, reports Lancs Live.

Writing in her book, the Loose Women panelist said: "At the after-show party, I can distinctly remember examining this one girl. There were loads of people there but she just stood out. She had really long dark hair and was wearing a skin-tight white dress. Well, it must have been female intuition because that turned out to be the girl Shane had an affair with."

While appearing on Loose Women: The Podcast, Coleen shared that it was only six months to a year later when Shane made a request that left her devastated. This came after a podcast listener wrote in to say that their ex-husband wanted to take their children away with his new girlfriend.