EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
SHARING TIPS ON FINDING LOVE DENISE VAN OUTEN ON ESCAPING BAD DATES AND CHOOSING THE RIGHT PARTNER
Denise and boyfriend Jimmy Barba hold hands during a holiday in Dubai in December; they first appeared in public together last June
When Denise Van Outen was dating in the 1990s, she always had a back-up plan up her sleeve in case things weren’t going well. Sometimes she would put her friends on standby to come to rescue her if she wanted to leave – though this scheme was by no means foolproof. “I’ve had situations where I’ve said to a friend: ‘If it’s not going well, I’ll send you a coded message and you can come to get me out,’” she tells HELLO! in an exclusive interview. “But once when I did this, he had fallen asleep!”
At other times, the TV presenter managed to sneak out of a restaurant or bar before introducing herself to her potential new beau. “Sometimes you walk through the restaurant and realise the person sitting on their own is your date and you just think: ‘No, he’s not for me,’” she says. “I’ve walked in and walked out without being seen.”