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Sam Thompson has said he is grateful for his sister’s support amid his shock “breakup” from Zara McDermott.
Last month, it was reported that Thompson, 32, had split from McDermott, 28, after five years together.
While neither have publicly announced their break-up, fans have found several clues seemingly confirming the reports.
Thompson has alluded to the break-up before and appears to have done so again in a new interview with The Mirror.
The I’m a Celeb… winner told the publication that he finds his “biggest comforts” whenever he is going through a “tough time” is popping over to his nearby sister’s house.
“It’s amazing having Louise there and she’s an amazing mum,” he said. “One of my biggest comforts, if I’m ever going through a hard time, is my neighbours next door.
He continued: “I live my life at a very fast pace and there’s a lot going on, so when I go to their place it’s just such a family unit and it’s a beautiful place to be.
“Louise is running after Leo, my nephew, and Ryan’s running after Louise – it’s all manic madness, but it’s so warm and cosy and lovely.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Thompson said that despite his cheery facade, he does “struggle” sometimes.
Sometimes I’m a victim of people saying ‘Oh he never turns off’, of course I turn off but I’m just very lucky to do what I do.
“I talk to people about struggling a lot actually,” he said. “I go to therapy, I’ve been going to therapy for years, I do loads of stuff. For someone like me, it’s really better to talk about how I feel and I’ll never, I’ll never stop that.”
It was Thompson’s sister, Louise, who appeared to provide one of the first confirmations that her brother and McDermott had split up.
Shortly after reports emerged, Louise shared a post about performing a “bury and burn ritual” after “one of the best and worst years” of her life.
One of her followers, expressing concern that Louise might no longer be friends with Zara should she split from her brother, wrote: “Hope you don’t just drop Zara.”
Louise, who lives next door to the couple, liked this comment, which fans took as proof that the reports are true.
Also earlier this month, Thompson appeared on his podcast where he told co-host Pete Wicks that “it’s been a tough month”.
News of their alleged split arrived after they reportedly had relationship “crisis talks” following a row at the Television and Radio Industries Club (TRIC) awards in June.
Recently, McDermott appeared to make a dig at Thomspon in a TikTok video she shared on Monday (21 January).
The Strictly Come Dancing star reshared a video that showed someone staring out of the window on a train, captioned: “Me reminding myself that not everyone has the same heart as me, but still can’t understand why they did what they did because I would have never done it to them.’
McDermott and Thompson began dating in 2019, announcing their relationship in May that year. They met through Instagram.