Lisa Armstrong has endured torrid times since her life was turned upside down following her high-profile split from TV presenter Ant McPartlin.
In a social media post at the start of the year, she took a swipe at ‘the losers who lost us’ before referencing her struggles as she wrote: ‘You spent 2024 in survival mode. 2025 is your time to rise, rebuild, and thrive.’
Now it appears Lisa has done just that. For the Daily Mail can reveal the make-up artist has finally put her troubles behind her and found new love – thanks to her Strictly connections.
Lisa, 49, is said to have fallen head over heels for actor Grant Kilburn who she has been quietly dating in recent weeks.
They met after Lisa – who heads the team that puts the glitz and glamour into Strictly Come Dancing – went along to watch Stacey Dooley and Kevin Clifton perform together in a play at the Theatre Royal in Brighton in early October.
Lisa has remained friends with the couple who became an item after they were partnered together on the hit show in the 2018 series which they went on to win.
Stacey and Kevin, who now have a two-year-old daughter, are currently starring in a stage production of 2:22 A Ghost Story which has been touring the UK this year and features Grant as a fellow cast member.
Sources revealed that after the show, the couple introduced Lisa to Grant – who at 34 is 15-years Lisa’s junior.
Lisa Armstrong (pictured) split from TV presenter Ant, 50, in 2018 following a 12-year marriage, and he is now remarried to Anne-Marie Corbett
Sources revealed that after the show, the couple introduced Lisa to Grant – who at 34 is 15-years Lisa’s junior
2:22 A Ghost Story, which has been touring the UK this year features Grant as a cast member
Stacey and Kevin, who now have a two-year-old daughter, are currently starring in a stage production of 2:22 A Ghost Story
They quickly hit it off and began dating soon after.
The source told the Daily Mail: ‘Lisa and Grant have really hit it off – and it’s put the smile back on her face.
‘Their relationship is in its early stages and, at the moment, they are keeping it low key. Lisa went through a painful and very public split with Ant and she doesn’t want to get hurt again but she’s not thinking about that right now.
‘They are just enjoying spending time together. Grant lives in Kent but has been staying with Lisa when he can. They’ve both been very busy – Lisa with Strictly while Grant has been touring the country.
‘At the moment they are taking it one day at a time but it’s great to see her happy again.’
It was a different story from this time last year when Lisa was left to reflect on her difficulties alone – in contrast to Ant, 50, who spent his first Christmas as a father with new wife Anne-Marie and their then seven-month-old son Wilder.
While her show business career has continued to thrive, Lisa has had to endure a series of setbacks and heartbreaks since her acrimonious split in 2018 from Ant, famed for his double act with co-presenter Dec Donnelly.
In 2023 she split from her boyfriend James Green, a Sky electrician, 42, and he moved out of her home.Â
In the same year a fire ripped through the £5million home she bought in Chiswick after her divorce.
And the Daily Mail can reveal that Grant too has had to overcome adversity in his life. After graduating from Mountview, one of the UK’s leading drama schools in 2013, work was beginning to flow in for the ‘confident, outgoing, and athletic’ actor.
He said: ‘It was a really exciting time. I felt like the world was at my feet and nothing could go wrong.’
But disaster struck in April the following year when Grant, then aged just 23, collapsed on a shopping trip with his brother and was discovered to have had a stroke.
In an interview in 2023 he said: ‘I was convinced I was going to die. I remember lying in hospital – with so much chaos going on around me – and thinking “It’s time to let go and say goodbye”.’
Later that day, Grant had a CT scan that showed two large blood clots at the base of his brain.
He said: ‘I never thought someone fit and healthy in their 20s could have a stroke. I was terrified of what had happened…’
That fear stuck with Grant and he told how it took him almost a decade to get his life back to where he wanted it to be.
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Lisa Armstrong has endured torrid times since her life was turned upside down following her high-profile split from TV presenter Ant McPartlin
Lisa then bought a £3.8million house in West London in 2020, two years following her split from Ant after 11 years of marriage (pictured 2006)
He said: ‘I became depressed and anxious. It took over my life, especially the panic attacks. Whenever I got a head rush, I was terrified I was about to have another stroke.’
With professional support, Grant was able to better understand what had happened to him and to overcome a lot of the fear.
He has since gone on to help raise awareness for the Stroke Association and has visited prisons, including Belmarsh, Pentonville and Thameside, in an attempt to encourage other men to talk about their mental health challenges and depression.
Friends have told how Lisa herself has battled to overcome dark times after her split from Ant.
The couple’s romance began when they were teenagers and they had been together for more than 23 years.
Lisa met Ant on a Smash Hits tour in Newcastle in 1994 when she was in a band called Deuce which performed alongside him and partner Dec who were reaching new TV and music heights as PJ & Duncan following their stint on Byker Grove.
They were together for more than 10 years before Ant proposed to Lisa on holiday in Dubai in 2005.
During their marriage Ant and Dec went on to cement their place as Britain’s best-loved TV duo but along with the good times it was not all plain sailing.
In 2013, Ant opened up about the couple’s struggles to conceive telling Radio Times: ‘Lisa and I would love to have kids. We’re trying. It’s tougher than you think when you get a bit older.’
He also told Fabulous Magazine: ‘I think I’m lucky. Lisa works in the industry and understands it. She’s constantly working – sometimes more than me!
‘We would love to have a family so fingers crossed. If we’re blessed with children, then we’d be over the moon!’
There were more troubles ahead when Ant went into rehab for alcohol and prescription drug addiction in 2017.
Ant, who lives in a £6million mansion in Wimbledon, married his former personal assistant Anne-Marie Corbett, 46, in a ceremony in August 2021 in Heckfield, Hampshire
Admitting he needed help he said at the time: ‘I feel like I have let a lot of people down and for that I’m truly sorry.’
He confessed in an interview that he had put Lisa through hell with his mood swings and depression, but praised her for being ‘fantastic’.
Rumours that the couple had split emerged in autumn 2017 after Lisa did not accompany Ant to Australia for I’m A Celeb.
She denied there were problems at the time, pointing out that she had a job and had not been to Australia for years.
But Ant’s representative announced in January 2018 that the couple’s 12-year marriage had come to an end.
There was worse to come for Ant after he crashed his Mini into two other cars while twice over the drink drive limit – leading to a 20-month ban and an £86,000 fine.
Around the same time, in March 2018, Ant began to be linked with the couple’s personal assistant Anne-Marie Corbett, who Lisa had regarded as a friend.
At the time Lisa responded to a fan on Twitter by writing: ‘Yeah, my friend and OUR PA who I let into OUR home.’
And she appeared to further indicate her disapproval of the relationship by liking a fan’s tweet which said it was ‘a major girl code breach’ to ‘start shacking up with your wife’s friend’.
The couple’s marriage officially ended in October 2018 when Lisa was granted a decree nisi after Ant admitted adultery.
But the pair continued finalising their financial settlement while reportedly disagreeing over custody arrangements for their chocolate Labrador Hurley.
During their divorce battle, Ant is said to have told lawyers: ‘She can have anything she wants – except the dog.’
Lisa, 46, used to regularly post selfie pictures on Instagram of her looking loved up with James, along with images of them enjoying a series of luxury holidays
Lisa and Ant agreed to take it in turns to look after Hurley.
The arrangement led to the TV presenter’s chauffeur ferrying the dog between the two of them so they did not have to see each other.
It was later reported that Lisa wanted her pet to live with her full-time.
She is said to have argued that it was only fair as Ant also had two maltipoo dogs – Maltese and poodle crossbreeds – called Milo and Bumble.
Ant, who now lives in a £6million mansion in Wimbledon, south west London, married Anne-Marie, 48, in a church ceremony in August 2021 in Heckfield, Hampshire.