Alesha Dixon has revealed that she found her twenties so “awful” that “you couldn’t pay her to go back there”.
In a candid new interview, the 44-year-old singer and TV personality also said she “likes herself more as a person now” and shared how she’s embracing her aging and feeling “happy in her own skin” now that she is is older.
Her twenties were a difficult time, most notably the heartbreaking end of her marriage to rapper MC Harvey, who admitted to being unfaithful to her.
Hart: Alesha Dixon has revealed she found her 20s so ‘awful’ that ‘you couldn’t pay her to go back there’
The British rapper met Britain’s Got Talent judge when they were 21 and the couple eventually married at 26.
The marriage was short-lived – lasting just eight months – when in 2006 Alesha discovered Harvey’s infidelity with West End stage co-star Javine Hilton.
Speaking to The Sun about her twenties, she said: “I like myself more as a person now than I did then. My 20s were terrible. You couldn’t pay me to go back there.”
Throwback: In a candid new interview, the 44-year-old singer and TV personality also said she “likes herself more as a person now” and shared how she embraces her aging and feels “happy in her own skin” now, where she is older (pictured in 2002)
Speaking of aging, she added: “There is absolutely nothing you can do about aging, so I embrace it.
“I’m happy in my own skin. I actually prefer how I look now to when I was in my 20s.
Alesha is now married to Azuka Ononye and the couple have two children together, Azura, nine, and Anaya, three.
In the in-depth interview, she also spoke about how now that she’s older, she’s more confident in her career and business decisions — and working without a manager as she “trusts her intuition” to represent herself.
Exes: Her twenties were a difficult time, most notably the heartbreaking end to her marriage to rapper MC Harvey, who admitted to being unfaithful to her (pictured in 2004)
Alesha also teased that she will be releasing more music from her own label in 2023.
It comes after MC Harvey spoke earlier this year about the moment he confessed to Alesha he cheated on her, admitting in an interview: “I thought she was going to kill me.”
The 43-year-old So Solid Crew star was forced to admit to having an affair with singer Javine Hilton in 2006 after details of the couple’s affair leaked.
Harvey explained that telling his then-wife Alesha what he had done was “the worst thing he ever had to do.”
Opening up on the James English podcast, the rapper said, “The day I left Javine’s house was so weird. I had left her house and was driving home to my marital home and when I was two miles from my house, she (Javine) called me and said “she knows, she knows” when I pulled up in my driveway.
“The worst thing I ever had to do was tell a woman I cheated on her.
“When I walked into the living room, Alesha just said to me, ‘Do you want something to eat, Harvey?’ and I think ‘Yes, of course I will.’
Harvey said he then sat down with Alesha to watch TV, which ironically had an episode of The Tyra Banks Show on cheating.
History: Alesha first rose to fame in the girl band Mis-Teeq with Sabrina Washington and Su-Elise Nash
He continued, “She was there watching TV when she took a break and my heart sank. She said, “How long has Harvey been going?” and that was it.
“I thought she was going to kill me. To this day, it’s the worst two days I’ve ever spent in my house.”
Harvey went on to say he received a call from his mum telling him to stay indoors as he owed her that after he broke her heart.
He added: “It got out in the papers and everyone hated me. I was a love rat. My sanity was like oh my god. I went from a celebrity relationship and loved to hated in 48 hours. But it was self-inflicted.
“When I went through the madness of everything, and I went through the Alesha stuff, and then obviously when I got together with Javine, who is my daughter’s mother, I should never have been with her.
“It was a toxic relationship and when I was escaping and getting out of the whole situation, I once said to my mom, ‘Mom, I feel like my dad.’
“My mom said to me, ‘Never say that, there’s a difference between you and your dad, you have a conscience, he doesn’t.’
“It’s a lot of pressure, the money you make, women pouncing on you and it’s only now that I’ve been like, why was I in a relationship at that age?
“I’m old school and I love being in love, I love the family unit but I should have learned more about myself and I should have gotten the shit out of my system.”
During an appearance on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories, former Strictly Come Dancing champion and judge Alesha admitted she felt “lost and empty” when her marriage to Harvey fell apart.
She said: “I haven’t eaten for a few days. I only remember sitting on the floor in my house. I felt lost, I couldn’t find the words.
“You ask yourself these questions: Why? What I have done wrong?
Happy: Since the split, Alesha married dancer Azuka Ononye in 2017 (pictured together in 2017)