‘The kids really like my new man – he's what I've been looking for'

Loose Women star Coleen Nolan opens up about finding love in her fifties and rediscovering the joy of sex

Coleen Nolan is at home in Cheshire when we talk to her, and the Loose Women star is still reeling from the death of one of her beloved cats, which was run over two days before our interview.

“It was horrendous,” she tells us. “It’s made me think I can’t have cats again.”

Anyone who knows Coleen, who recently turned vegan, will know she is animal-obsessed. As well as her son Shane Jr, 32, and daughter Ciara, 20 – and their respective partners Maddie and Max – she also shares her home with dogs, cats, pygmy goats and horses. So when she calls it a “madhouse” we know that she’s not exaggerating.

But the twice-divorced star is in no rush for her kids to move out, saying, “Oh my God, I absolutely love them being around.” And even though her second son Jake, 29, has made the move to London, Coleen admits he “comes back all the time”.

We’re here today to talk to Coleen, 56, about her latest book, Live. Laugh. Love.: Lessons I’ve Learned, a frank and hilarious memoir where she opens up about the various trials and tribulations in her life.

Coleen writes honestly about where her marriages to actor Shane Richie, 57, and musician Ray Fensome, 63, went wrong, the challenges she’s faced in her TV career and her experiences of online dating in her late fifties. But now, she’s actually met someone really special. The smitten star thinks it could be the real deal, but is nervous about saying too much – although she confides in us by admitting, “This is the happiest I’ve ever been.”