Clare Craze, the heartbroken former wife of Strictly star Kevin Clifton, tried to commit suicide after he ruthlessly ended their marriage in public, she revealed last night.
The 39-year-old, also a trained dancer, was so distraught that she overdosed on anxiety pills, washed down by wine, and was found collapsed in the street by strangers.
'When he told me it was finished it felt like all hope from my life had gone – it was overwhelming,' she says.
'Afterwards, I went to a bar and took a whole box of tablets. I was found near Waterloo Bridge by some passers-by who called an ambulance.'
Clare Craze, 39, last night revealed that she tried to commit suicide after her ex-husband, Kevin Clifton, ruthlessly ended their marriage
Clare, a trained dancer, was so distraught at Kevin's (left) break up that she overdosed on pills, washed down by wine, and was found collapsed in the street by strangers (couple pictured at Burn The Floor opening night in 2009)
Clare woke up in hospital on a drip with Kevin still intent on divorce. He wanted to be free to form a relationship with Karen Hauer – who later became his third wife and Strictly Come Dancing co-star.
Now, of course, he has a new girlfriend who tops Britain's leaderboard for fame, success and popularity: the documentary maker and current Strictly champion Stacey Dooley.
Their romance has devastated Stacey's boyfriend of five years, Sam Tucknott, who exclusively told The Mail on Sunday last weekend how he felt betrayed by the man he had treated as a friend.
Sam, a personal trainer, branded the dancer a 'slippery snake' and accused him of 'stealing' the woman he hoped to marry.
Clare, who has now recovered and had a son with her new partner, has watched the emotional carnage with less surprise than most – she has first-hand experience of Kevin's ruthlessness when he's got one eye on a new future.
By the time he told her their marriage was over, she says he had already informed their landlords she would be moving out of the marital home and withdrawn her from the London run of the prestigious dance show, Burn The Floor, in which they were in talks to appear.
Kevin (pictured at the Olivier Awards this month) has been a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing since 2013
Clare, who has since recovered and has a son and partner, recalls how when she woke up in hospital on a drip, Kevin was still intent on divorce
Today her words will come as a warning to Stacey about her lover's vaunting professional and personal ambition.
'Kevin is like a chameleon, he works out what you want and then he becomes it,' she says.
'Plus, he's extremely talented, which is very attractive. Coupled with him presenting himself as a nice guy, it is a powerful combination.
'Kevin is a social climber and fame hungry. He loved the dancing but he also wanted the glamour of red carpets and seeing his name in lights. He dropped me as soon as it suited him.'
With household name Stacey by his side and the Glitterball trophy in his possession, that's all now guaranteed.
Clare claims that Kevin wanted to be free to form a relationship with Karen Hauer (left) – who later became his third wife and Strictly Come Dancing co-star
But Clare's account of the collateral damage left in Kevin's wake makes for salutary reading.
Most shocking is the way the 36-year-old seems to find his relationships almost interchangeable as he waltzes off – and trades up.
He delivered part of the same touching wedding-day speech to both Clare and Karen, and promised both women they could call any future son the same name.
Clare claims he even wiped one wife off his CV altogether: 'I found out he had been married before me years later. I messaged my mum and said, "Well, I guess I wasn't the first, after all".'
Kevin has also benefited in profile terms from his sizzling Strictly partnerships with breakfast TV star Susanna Reid, who split from her long-term boyfriend and father of her children after starring in the 2013 series, and more recently Louise Redknapp.
She famously left her 18-year marriage to former Liverpool midfielder Jamie Redknapp and partied with Kevin afterwards.
Stacey's split from Sam makes them the 14th couple to have broken up as a result of what has been called The Curse of Strictly, and the third of Kevin's dance partners.
In retrospect, Clare knows the clues were there when she first visited his family home in the village of Waltham, near Grimsby.
Documentary maker Stacey Dooley partnered with Clifton to win the 2018 series of Strictly Come Dancing
Alongside dozens of dance trophies were photos of Kevin with his partners down the years, each of whom had been his girlfriend.
Clare nicknamed the gallery of exes 'The Wall of Death' but, having been swept off her feet, she didn't expect to find herself joining it.
Clare was 25, with a degree in performing arts from Middlesex University when she met Kevin at a salsa bar in Wimbledon in 2005.
They had been invited to teach there and it was clear from the start he was determined to seduce her.
Within eight weeks, they had moved in together. 'Just like that, we were an item, head over heels for each other,' she says.
She says she had no clue that he had been married to his former pro partner Anna Melnikova until she read about it in a newspaper article last year.
'He told me they'd dated,' Clare reveals. 'But years later, I saw an article which said he'd been married to her before me, in 2003, when he was 20. I was shocked.
'When we got married, we had to have a few marriage classes. You have to say whether you've been married before and he never mentioned it.
For the first year we were together, they shared a room at his nan's house – and sometimes a bed together when they were touring.
Clare's words will come as a warning to Stacey (pictured) about her lover's (Kevin pirctured) vaunting professional and personal ambition. She said that 'Kevin is like a chameleon, he works out what you want and then he becomes it'
'He told me it was completely normal in the Latin ballroom competition world but really I knew that you shouldn't be sleeping in the same bed as your ex girlfriend when you are engaged. It was very, very upsetting at the time.'
She has no idea why Kevin behaved in this way since she adored him and 'would have done anything to make him happy'.
In fact, she began teaching dance at the expense of her own career to subsidise Kevin's. Six months later, he proposed, buying a ring and driving through the night from Blackpool where he had been competing to get down on one knee in their living
