THEY were one of Big Brother’s great on-screen love stories.
But outside the house, series six contestants Saskia Howard-Clarke and Maxwell Ward’s romance fizzled out within 12 months.
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Reflecting on their relationship 17 years on, Saskia, 41, admits cheeky chappy Maxwell was never really her type.
In an exclusive interview, she tells us: “He laughed me into bed, that’s the best way to describe it.
“He’s a really nice, funny guy and very persistent, I’ll give him that, but time in there is slow, right? I think I was in there for five or six weeks and you’ve been away hiding for two weeks before with no contact with your family, it’s a long time. Then to get close to somebody…
“It happened organically but, listen, if I’d met him on the outside, I don’t mean to be horrible, but he wouldn’t have been my type at all.”
In a Big Brother first, the couple went head to head in an eviction.
Saskia was eliminated first with 71 percent of the vote and Maxwell was given the boot a week later, losing out to Kieron ‘Science‘ Harvey.
The pair made a good go of life outside the house as a couple and even bought a house together, but it quickly became apparent the connection they had was stronger within the confines of programme.
Towards the end of their relationship, Saskia says they were living in separate bedrooms.
She says: “We had to sell the house. I then met a boyfriend. We had little bickers because I’d want him out the house when my then boyfriend would be coming over. It was a bit messy but we were young, we were mid twenties.”
The former couple eventually embraced the split and even took part in a photoshoot for OK! Magazine based on the Hollywood comedy The Break-Up starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston as warring lovers.
For Saskia, the reaction to the split rather than the separation itself was the most difficult thing to take.
Read Related Also: EastEnders’ Gillian Taylforth finds love again with ten-years-younger toyboy – four years after split from drug baron ex
She says: “What was frustrating for me was more like the ‘told you so. I knew she wouldn’t be with him,’ and I felt bad for him because he had a lot of stick saying that he was punching, which is not nice.”
In 2014 Saskia found herself unlucky in love once again when her then husband and the father to her son Phoenix, 10, walked out on her.
Though they now have an amicable relationship and continue to co-parent their son, the shock split left Saskia heartbroken.
She says: “It was awful. It was a real struggle because I was heartbroken. I dealt with it privately, this is the first time I’ve spoken about it publicly. I was just being a mum and having to survive as in psychologically, it was trauma.
“Like anything, time’s a healer and you start going on dates and you try and you’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs [laughs].”
Saskia met her current partner five years ago on dating app Tinder.
She says: “It all seemed so exciting [Tinder]. I’d never seen it before. But when I actually delved into it, when I’d been single for however long, you realise it’s so boring. You’re practically copying and pasting your messages. It was so draining. I hadn’t been that interested, and then I met my partner and that kind of changed that for me.
“You learn to love again. Everyone’s got baggage, haven’t they.”
The doting mum and former lads’ mag favourite is now once again looking to harness her glamour girl experience to provide for her family, though her partner isn’t too keen.
“He can’t stand it,” she says of his reaction to her Only Fans content. “He never met me when I was glamour modelling. He never knew me when I was in the limelight. When I said I was going to do this I think he thought I wouldn’t so it.”
But for Saskia, it comes down to her will to provide a good life for her son, and she feels comfortable with the career move.
“I have to earn a living, no body’s paying my bills,” she says. “I don’t live with my partner so I solely look after me and my son and I would love… it’s the unknown for me, it’s just another shot of something I’m going to give a go.
“Of course there’s a feeling of ‘what will mums say’, but my son, he’s in year six at primary school now and starts secondary school next year, my son knows what I do. It’s paramount to me that I told him. I’d rather me tell him than somebody else. He was completely fine. I’m happy as long as my son’s happy.”
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