Lisa's Lonely Christmas

The Strictly make-up artist is gearing up for a ‘tearful’ first Christmas without Ant McPartlin

This time last year, Lisa Armstrong’s life was falling apart around her as she desperately battled to save her marriage.

Now, as she faces her first Christmas without Ant McPartlin since 1994, she is trying to look forward.

Ant, 43, and Lisa, 42, are still technically married, as details of a financial settlement are still being thrashed out by lawyers.

But they have been free to cut their final formal ties since mid-November, and friends say Lisa is determined to start 2019 with a clean slate.

‘Last year she was dreading Christmas because her whole life was up in the air,’ a longstanding friend tells Now. ‘This time around she wants to try and enjoy herself, despite the inevitable pangs of loneliness and the flashbacks to when times were good with Ant.

‘She’s been to hell and back, but in the end it wasn’t the despair that was killing her – it was the hope, the hope that things might be able to work out.

‘This Christmas is all about being with the people who have always loved her. Those precious friends who will never let her down, no matter what.’