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Christopher Dean is best known as a judge on Dancing on Ice where he stars alongside his former skating partner Jayne Torvill.

While many viewers still assume the pair are a couple, in fact they never have been together and off the ice each have their own romantic history.

While his friendship with Jayne has endured, Christopher Dean has been married and divorced twice and is currently settled with fellow DOI regular, coach Karen Barber. Let's take a look at his story in full…

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Christopher, 61, has been married twice and the skating star is dad to two grown up children, who live in America.

Between 1991 and 1993, Christopher was married to French-Canadian World ice dance champion Isabelle Duchesnay,

Isabelle was famously jealous of his skating partner Jayne Torvill, referring to her as the "other woman in their marriage". The marriage was short lived and over in less than two years.

Following their divorce, Christopher met US skater Jill Trenary and they were married for sixteen years. The couple lived in Colorado Springs with their two sons, Sam and Jack.

Jack, his oldest child, has severe learning difficulties.

"He likes his own space," says Chris. |He likes to disappear. He’s a quiet boy. You wouldn’t know he’s in the room. In the beginning, we thought he was on the autistic spectrum, but he’s not.

"It has been hard over the years, but I think I’ve got to a place where I love him for who he is and I’m not necessarily going to be able to change him.

"He melts my heart and we can communicate. But it’s just not the case that I can say: 'Work harder and you’ll be better.' He won’t."

Torvill and Dean retired from skating in 1998 and despite looking forward to it, they’ve both said that they found the loss of routine tough.

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After signing up for Dancing on Ice in 2006, Chris split his time between the UK and US and spent five months of the year in Colarado with his family.

In March 2010, Christopher's agent confirmed that Christopher and Jill had decided to separate, although they have remained on good terms for the sake of their children who are now 20 and 21.

He said in an interview that year: “That’s the good thing. We’re not at war. We’re actually friends.

"In Colorado, I now live a minute’s walk away from them and go round every day. I pick the boys up for school. Get them ready. Bring them home from school. We are best friends.”

News of his romance with Karen Barber came in 2011 when the pair were snapped kissing outside a restaurant in London.

However, after the kiss made headlines, Karen confirmed that she was separated from her husband Stephen Pickavance and the couple went public with their romance.

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The exes remained on good terms for their teenage daughters Emma and Laura.

Karen and Olympic gold medallist Christopher went on to release a joint statement, explaining: "We have been great friends for more than 30 years.

"Following recent media speculation, we feel the necessity to confirm that this year has seen a change in our relationship, but we are taking things very slowly, as it is early days.

"We'd very much like to thank our dear friends, who have been so incredibly supportive to us. We both have families with children, so we ask the media to please respect their privacy."

Despite skating together since the 1970s, Christopher and Jayne Torvill have never been in a relationship.

However in 2013, Jayne admitted that the pair did "dabble" in romance as teenagers and kissed once.


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"We were in the back of the bus going to a league match, and it just happened. It was a one-off. We never talked about it afterwards. We laugh about it now," she told Radio Times.

However, their chemistry on the ice led many to conclude that they were a couple.

Christopher explained the relationship last year, saying: “There is still a romance, though. I love Jayne. But in a passionate friend way.

“When couples dance together, it’s very intimate; you spend a lot of time together, it’s close, it’s physical.”


Instead, Chris considers Jayne his top confidante and has said in the past how he turns to her for advice – especially relationship advice.

He jokes that his friendship with Jayne has outlived any marriage.

Jayne is married to American sound engineer Phil Christiansen and the couple have two children together.

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