INTERVIEW
As an original MIC cast member, Francesca “Cheska” Hull enjoyed an A-list lifestyle. But in a shock move, the star shunned the spotlight – and she’s never been happier!
She burst onto the scene in 2011as the blonde party-goer in Made In Chelsea, forming part of the original cast along with the likes of Ollie Locke and Binky Felstead. But Francesca “Cheska” Hull left it all behind in 2014 when she sensationally quit the show, later uprooting her glamorous life in West London for a quieter one in the Devon countryside.
Cheska returned to MIC briefly in 2017 to share the happy news that she was expecting her first child, going on to welcome her son Charlie in November that year with ex-boyfriend Tom Huggett, from whom she split during her pregnancy. But the reality star-turned-PR, 36, found love again with new partner Damian Cook after falling head-over-heels on the school run, and she has fully embraced blended family life with his two teenage daughters and a son.
She tells Closer, “Leaving London was something I knew I had to do, deep down inside. I was very depressed and struggling. Everything became difficult – getting out of bed in the morning, saying yes to social engagements, being with friends. I knew in order to get my mental health back on track – and to be me again – Ihad to leave.”
She adds, “Starting again was a really tough thing to do. I felt it meant that I’d failed. Now, I don’t see that at all. I’m very proud that I did it.” Cheska and Damian’s love story started with “outrageous flirting every Wednesday” when dropping their sons off at school. Nine months and several Facebook messages later, they are still going from strength to strength, to the extent they are taking the next step in their relationship by moving in together.
LOVE ON THE SCHOOL RUN
She recalls, “I was single for a while, focusing on motherhood and my family business. Then, last year, I remember I was waiting to pick up my son in the playground. I looked over and was like, ‘That’s the kind of guy I should be with.’ I didn’t know if he was married or what the situation was, I just thought, ‘Oh, he looks lovely. I wish I was with someone like that.’ The rest is history.”
Cheska’s time on MIC was largely centred on her friendship with Binky and Ollie, and the three of them remain close today. Ollie – who Cheska has been friends with since her teens – is about to become a dad to twins with husband Gareth, something everyone is “over the moon” about, particularly following the couple’s widely-documented struggles with IVF.
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