'Iwan asked me to marry him on our first date'

Faye Brookes has discovered true happiness since marrying her best friend after a whirlwind romance and moving to the Cotswolds

Faye Brookes sounds like a very happy woman right now – and why wouldn’t she be? She declares that life is “absolutely dreamy” after she married the love of her life,

Iwan Lewis, and moved to the Cotswolds. Faye, who played Kate Connor in Coronation Street from 2015 to 2019, married Welsh theatre and film actor Iwan, 35, in August last year, only seven months after their engagement and 10 months after they officially became a couple, despite having known each other as good friends for 16 years.

Faye, 36, tells OK!, “Getting married and moving to the Cotswolds was the best decision I ever made – I’ve never been so content.

“I honestly never thought I could be this happy. I’m feeling very content, very settled.

“And then on top of that, I’ve been blessed with Iwan being my best friend and marrying him and we are very, very happy in our little world.”

Faye, who dated Pop Idol star Gareth Gates for seven years before a very public break-up in 2019, says married life feels like the most natural thing in the world.

“I just feel as if we have known each other for ever and ever,” she says. “We’ve been through a lot as friends and then we’ve made the ultimate commitment, to get married.” Being with Iwan, says Faye, makes her feel like she has “this undeniable kind of safety net” that has given her space to work out what she really wants from life.

“We’ve got each other. We don’t want anybody else and we’re very, very comfortable,” she says.