Romance is on the cards this year for former soap star Helen Flanagan, who is ready to find Mr Right. The Celebs Go Dating star endured a rocky end to 2025, when she and her footballer ex-fiancé Scott Sinclair, 36, had a very public fallout on social media. But Helen has high hopes for a better 2026, a source tells new.

”Helen is definitely ready for love,” a source says. “She loves being with someone and wants to meet a new partner that she can really trust and depend on. She likes feeling like part of a team with someone, and she’s determined that whoever she ends up with will be a guy who adores her three kids too, because they are her top priority.”

Ex-Coronation Street actress Helen, 35, will even chart her quest for romance in her new podcast, which is set to launch in the coming months. “She’s going to be very open about it,” claims our source. “It’s going to be a big, positive year for Helen – she’s really going for it. She’s feeling fearless right now, and won’t be holding back.”

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Scott is father to their three children – Matilda, 10, Delilah, seven, and four-year-old Charlie – but in December Helen hit out at him when he skipped Charlie’s Christmas nativity play to attend the Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi instead.

“You really are a piece of s**t,” Helen wrote on Instagram, as she shared a screenshot of one of Scott’s posts from the event. “How dare you not turn up to Charlie’s nativity.” Scott had posted snaps of his weekend in the United Arab Emirates, where he saw British driver Lando Norris win the title. “What a weekend – Abu Dhabi F1,” he wrote. “Happy Days, blurry nights.”

Furious Helen shared a picture of her cuddling up to their young son after his starring moment, writing, “Loved Charlie’s nativity. My star, my heartbeat.” She reportedly also stopped following Scott on social media as a result of the spat.

As well as venturing into the world of podcasting, Helen – who played Corrie’s Rosie Webster – is releasing a new book later this month. Head & Heart: Break-Ups, Breakdowns and Being Rosie will lift the lid on her career, motherhood and the ups and downs of her personal life. And now our source says Scott may need to steel himself for some eye-opening revelations.

“Scott is bracing himself for when Helen’s book and podcast come out,” says the source. “She feels very unsupported by him, and doesn’t care who she tells about it. She feels immensely let down and wants the world to know.”

Helen and former Bristol Rovers player Scott got engaged in May 2018, when he proposed at Disneyland Paris. But they broke up in 2022 after 13 years together, and their split has been far from amicable, with Helen describing co-parenting with him as “really rubbish” because they live five hours apart and “don’t like each other very much”.

Helen also recently told how much she relies on her mum Julia to help her with the three children. Posting on Instagram while appearing in a production of Snow White over the festive period, she said, “So grateful for my incredible mum who has looked after my children for really the past two months while I’ve been working.” She added, “All the school runs, all the activities, all the school work, all the washing. Love you.”

After her relationship ended with Scott, Helen went on to date former footballer Robbie Talbot while appearing on Celebs Go Dating in 2024. In the beginning, they kept their romance a secret, but after going public Helen said, “I’ve never met anyone like him. He’s not only a lovely man, but he’s really, really funny. And he had the balls to chat me up! Usually I don’t get that, but he has so much confidence. And he really takes care of me.”

Robbie’s appeal was further boosted by his strong relationship with his two daughters, Sophia and Carina, which Helen called a “huge green flag”. At the time she said, “He’s a great daddy. And our kids all get along so well.”

However, the pair went their separate ways last summer, with friends claiming they wanted different things in life. Helen then declared she would remain single for the foreseeable future, saying in August, “I’m done with men for the time being. I’m concentrating on the kids, work, moving house and being with my friends.”

She also revealed that meeting the perfect guy always seemed to be out of her reach. “I struggle with dating a bit. I feel like there’s always something with men. So right now I want to be single and keep my peace a little bit, you know?”

She went on to say, “Breaking up with Robbie hasn’t stopped me believing in love but I always seem to have a boyfriend. I need a break to do some inner work on myself. I want to learn to not need a man. I do struggle with men. So I now need to focus on myself for a bit.”

But as the new year gets underway, our source says Helen is feeling more ambitious and hopeful than ever. “There’s a lot to juggle but she’s prepared to do it,” says the source. “She’s got her podcast, her new book and she wants to do more acting too, and get her TV career back up and running. She wants it all.”