Following fresh criticism of her ex Scott Sinclair, a source tells the Mirror that Helen Flanagan’s relationship comments could be ‘the tip of the iceberg’
Mitya Underwood Senior Celebrity & Royal Writer
07:00, 31 Jan 2026Updated 07:10, 31 Jan 2026
Helen didn’t hold back on the topic of her ex fiancé Scott Sinclair(Image: PA)
Helen Flanagan’s furious outbursts aimed at her footballer ex Scott Sinclair appear to have shattered any hopes of them amicably co-parenting together. The former Coronation Street star recently described Scott as a “d***head”, and accused him of failing to show up for their young son’s school performance. She also claimed they only communicated through her dad after three-and-a-half “hellish” years of trying to amicably co-parent their three kids.
Helen kept relatively quiet about their co-parenting relationship in the early days following their 2022 split, but recently let rip about her ex-fiancé on social media and in a tell-all interview – and our source claims this could be just the start.
“Helen feels Scott has been really distant recently and hasn’t been as involved as he used to be, or giving her any attention,” the source told the Mirror. “She’s really disappointed in him as a former partner and as a dad, and in her eyes he’s just sort of left her to it a lot, with the house and the kids.
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Helen and Scott were engaged for over a decade but split up in 2022(Image: Instagram)
“It’s not something she’s really done before – she’s always spoken pretty highly of him – but at that moment she felt enough was enough. She didn’t see why she was protecting him given she feels so let down.
“There’s definitely more Helen wants to say. She feels totally let down, so this could be the tip of the iceberg. She thinks she’s gone quite lightly on Scott so far, but he can’t believe some of the things she’s said.
“She’s looking to date again but she always goes for the bad boys, and all her family and friends say she has to stop it.”
Helen and Scott were a couple for over a decade, but broke up in 2022, leaving Helen as a single mum to daughters Matilda, 10, Delilah, seven, and son Charlie, four. She suffered a mental and physical breakdown at the end of 2023, and said afterwards that the root cause was the lingering trauma from her break-up with Scott.
“I don’t see it as a break-up, I see it as a divorce,” she said in 2024. “We were together for 13 years and have three children. But instead of processing it all, I threw myself into work and shut off my emotions. I just went into survival mode.”
Helen said she feels ‘let down’ by Scott when it comes to co-parenting Delilah, Charlie and Matilda(Image: Instagram)
At that point, Helen and Scott appeared to be in a good place, as she revealed they could have “a laugh together”. But fast-forward two years and it seems to have all changed.
According to our source, “Talking about Scott recently was a bit of a knee-jerk reaction at a time when she was feeling let down. She feels he’s become really lax in helping her, and that she doesn’t get the help she should and that all the financial dealings for the kids are down to her.”
Helen’s financial woes came to light a year ago, following a court-imposed driving ban after her Audi was spotted speeding on two separate occasions in June 2024. In a desperate plea to the magistrate, Helen said, “I think there might be a perception maybe that I would easily be able to afford a driver, but that’s quite far from the case. I’ve got enough money in my account to pay off my tax and my VAT, and basically that’s about it.”
She is currently in the process of selling the house she lives in with the kids – a six-bedroom detached family mansion near Bolton in the North West. She recently complained she had “no control” over the sale and had yet to make a decision about where to go next.
Helen will be moving out of her house once it sells(Image: Instagram/hjgflanagan)
Our source claims that while she would love to make the leap to London to help boost her acting work, she’s torn because of the children.
“She seems ready to move, but it’s hard for her because she really wants to work more and take more acting roles and a lot of that happens in London, but the kids are happy where they are and she always wants to keep their life as settled as she can.
“People think she’s just a privileged actress who has it all, and she sort of feels she wants to explain that isn’t the case, and share her reality. She desperately wants to get back on Coronation Street too, but as a single mum of three kids, it’s not easy to have it all.”
Helen and David lived in the I’m A Celebrity jungle together(Image: ITV)
Another topic that has previously been off the table is Helen’s rumoured “throuple” with boxer David Haye and his girlfriend Sian Osborne in 2023. But Helen recently set the record straight, saying she was never part of a throuple but spent time with “David on his own”.
Details from her new autobiography reveal the lengths she went to to get her man, including buying him a Cartier Trinity bracelet, which cost upwards of £1,000.
Our source says Helen wanted to make her side of the story known. They said, “It’s the same situation with David as it was with Scott. She saw so many comments and heard so many opinions about what happened and she wanted to tell her side of the story and set a few things straight.
“She didn’t feel she owed him anything not to talk about her own feelings and actions.”
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