Countryfile star Helen Skelton has spoken out for the first time about her divorce from husband Richie Myler and revealed how Strictly Come Dancing helped her through the breakup.

The presenter, who took part in last year's Strictly Come Dancing series, separated from her ex-husband in April of last year shortly after their third child.

Rugby League ace Myler has since begun dating Stephanie Thirkill with whom he now shares a child.

Helen Skelton 'didn't see it coming' as she speaks out about divorce from Richie Myler

In her recent memoir, My Stride, the Strictly Come Dancing contestant revealed that she was taken by complete surprise by the divorce from Richie Myler.

The separation came just after Helen Skelton had given birth to daughter Elsie and amid a renovation of the couple's Leeds property which they had recently acquired.

She wrote: "I was in shock. I know that following break-ups, people often say they didn’t see it coming and it sounds like a cliche, but that was me.”

She confessed that she may have been too "consumed" by kids, work and renovating to notice the "signs" that the marriage wasn't working.

She explained that she was heartbroken by the split and struggled to tell her parents as she did not want to "inflict" pain on others.

Helen Skelton reveals how Strictly helped her through her divorce

Helen joined the BBC show last year, saying that the divorce prompted her to sign up as she believed the gruelling rehearsals would distract her from the breakup.

She wrote in her new autobiography: “In week two, Gorka asked me why I didn’t feel sexy.

“It was an awkward question that immediately made me cringe.

“Why ask me that?! I was just there for the banter. I have never been sexy, I was the cute and funny type.

“He was asking a woman with three children under six, whose husband had just left her and was with another woman, TO BE SEXY.

“I thought, ‘Who would feel good about themselves in that scenario?’.”

She revealed that as the weeks progressed she grew more and more confident before she had gained enough courage to wear suspenders for a routine to the song Mein Herr from Cabaret.

Her choreographer told her that this would provide her with her own"f*** you" moment.

She said: “We had found a dance which let me own my own moment and be the boss.”