Testing times can bring out the best in people – and Denise van Outen seems to have come through the 18 months since her marriage break-up with flying colours.

The Basildon-born TV presenter describes herself as “healthy, happy and fulfilled” as she speaks of the past ups and downs of her personal life, about turning 40, and how recently she found new romance.

First, with characteristic honesty, she doesn’t shy away from talking about her “amicable” split from actor husband, Lee Mead, 33, father of their four-year-old-daughter, Betsy.

They met in 2007 when Lee, 33, from Rayleigh, was competing in the TV talent show, Any Dream Will Do and Denise was a judge.

The couple married in 2009, with Betsy arriving a year later. In 2013, they announced their marriage was over, citing the toll their busy work schedules had taken on the relationship.

The presenter, singer, dancer and actress, first found fame in the late Nineties on TV’s the Big Breakfast, and went on to star in musicals, notably as Roxy Hart in Chicago. She was also a runner-up in BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing show in 2012.

She and Mead’s support for one another had enabled them successfully to balance parenting and work.

Former Eastwood School pupil Lee is currently acting in BBC’s Casualty, while Denise is a weekend radio presenter on Magic and is preparing for a second tour of her one-woman play, Some Girl I Used To Know.

She says: “It’s been a very lucky break-up story really, because we’ve remained really good friends.

“I don’t even feel like a single mother, because I have so much support from Lee and both our families.

Echo: Lee Mead and his wife Denise Van Outen stepped out for the Wicked guest night

“For instance, we spent Christmas Day together with his family and mine, just like we did the previous year. It was lovely – and great for Betsy.

“We don’t have any set rules for when Lee sees her or I have her.

"Filming for Casualty is in Cardiff and so Betsy's made loads of set visits and knows all the names of the cast, which is very sweet.

“Our set-up is very relaxed and amicable.

We just agree everything between ourselves. It wouldn’t work for everyone, but it works for us.

“Lee’s a fantastic father and I’m proud of the way we’ve coped with it and made Betsy the priority.”

Denise not only appeared in the play, she also wrote it. It focuses on women “who for various reasons – their career, not finding the right man, or coming out of amarriage – find themselves single at 40”.

However, her own status currently is very much “attached”.

For the past seven months, she’s been dating stockbroker Eddie Boxshall, although she’s coy about the couple’s plans.

She explains: “It’s nice getting to know someone. It’s very relaxed and not really serious. It’s just nice and good to be back on the dating scene.

“Thankfully, I don’t think there’s really any interest nowadays in whoever I date. At one stage, the media seemed obsessed with my meeting someone and having a kid and literally partnered me off with everyone I was seen with.

“I’m glad that’s over and my private life now goes pretty well unnoticed.”

That may be a slightly optimistic assessment for someone still very much in the public spotlight, it’s undoubtedly true Denise’s life was all too public when she was in her twenties.

She dated Jay Kay, lead singer of the band Jamiroquai, for three years until 2001 and was included in the high-profile posse of women, including Zoe Ball and Sara Cox, dubbed “ladettes”

because of their high-jinks and partying.

However, everything changed for Denise, she says, when she became a mum, aged 35.

She admits: “I ran myself into the ground in my twenties, having fun and living life to the full, but becoming a mother changed my priorities.

“I’m totally happy to be a part-time working woman andamum, whereas if I’d been a young mum, it might have been harder to make the sacrifices necessary to be a parent.

“I don’t fill my diary like I used to. I only accept things I really want to do, because I like to be around for my daughter and be on the school run as much as I can.”

She’s philosophical about not having had more children, explaining: “Of course, if I’d settled down younger, I probably would have had more, but that’s just the way it worked out.

“I hadn’t met the right person and my career took over my life during those earlier years.

“I don’t have any sadness about it, because you’re still a mum whether you have one child or ten. I have a wonderful little girl, who’s incredibly outgoing and has lots of friends, and is the light of my life.”

Despite the fact she’s in a notoriously age-conscious industry, Denise is equally sanguine about passing that milestone 40th birthday last May.

Indeed, Denise is preparing to put her fitness to the test on a eight-day, 250-mile charity cycle ride from Vietnam to Cambodia, having cycled 180 miles through India last year and previously climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and trekked along the Great Wall of China.

She says: “I think 40 is a nice age actually, because you know yourself and where you are in your life.

“I didn’t have any problem with it, especially as I’m probably fitter and healthier than I was in my twenties.”

On her return she will act as a mentor to six dieters aiming to lose weight with the diet aid, XLS Medical and will present an online documentary charting their progress.

She says: “Although I haven’t dieted for the past 15 years, I’ve been careful about what I put in my body.

“I believe in eating healthily and grow my own vegetables. It means while I don’t deprive myself, I enjoy treats in moderation.

“Also, I feel it’s important to be a good role model with eating and health for my daughter’s sake, I’m happy she’ll always choose fresh fruit over cakes.

“I’m really looking forward to being a friend and support for those women because I know support is essential throughout life.

“I’m fortunate that when I’ve gone through life changes and challenges, I’ve always had really good people – family as well as long-standing friends – around me, who've pulled me through the tricky times.

“You can’t ask for more than that and I feel lucky thatmy life’s so full.”

  • For more information about Denise Van Outen’s involvement with XLS-Medical, visit xlsmedical.co.uk