Helen Flanagan reveals co-parenting set-up she has with ex-PNE man Scott Sinclair following shock split

The former Coronation Street actress, 32, shares children Matilda, seven, Delilah, five, and Charlie, two, with the Bristol Rovers footballer, who left Deepdale in the summer of 2022 after two years with North End.

But they remain on good terms as the children split their time between Flanagan’s home in Manchester and Sinclair’s Bristol base with his mum.

“I co-parent with my ex-fiancé Scott – we’ve got three children together, and we were together for 13 years,” Flanagan told the PA News Agency. “My friends help me with the children, because I do work nearly every day. I have a friend and we’re a girl gang together – I’m not superwoman! So that works nicely at home.

“Scott’s living with his mum at the moment in Bristol, and my children are really close to their nana, so it works really well. My kids just have a really happy environment, with me and my friend at home, and then they have a really nice happy environment with their dad and their nana.”

The I’m A Celeb star says she has the children for “the majority of the time”, as their dad’s away playing a lot.

“So it kind of can’t be helped, really,” she says. “But his mum is absolutely fantastic, we get on very, very well. She’s known me since I was 19, so I’m close with his mum, and she helps me a lot with the children.”

The actress admits that although she misses her “babies” when they’re with their dad and nana, she makes the most of her child-free time.

“I had my children not young, but young-ish – I had Matilda when I was 24 – and I just feel like I spent all my 20s being pregnant and breastfeeding at home,” Flanagan reflects. “So it’s kind of nice sometimes to have that time, because I know they’re in the best hands with Scott’s mum, and it’s lovely that I can spend some time with my friends and concentrate on my work and have some fun. So it’s nice, it works well.

“Of course I miss them, they’re my babies, but I know they’re really, really happy with their nana and their dad, so I don’t have to worry. I do feel like the happier you are as a mum, the better it is for your child.”

Helen Flanagan is helping to launch Nickwatch, a new connected smartwatch for children aged six to nine with built-in GPS tracking.