Every now and then a story will pop up which is just entirely unexpected, you know? Una Healy was best known for being one fifth of 00s girl group The Saturdays, but has since transitioned into the all-together more niche UK Country music scene, releasing her debut country album The Waiting Game in 2017 and landing a job presenting her own show on Absolute Radio Country.
It’s fair to say that Una had dropped off the mainstream radar in recent years, so it was quite the surprise to see her name splashed across front pages of the tabloid press – alongside former boxing champion David Hayes, no less – under headlines about a reported throuple.
Speculation first started swirling as early as October last year, when Tipperary-born Una travelled to Ibiza to celebrate David’s birthday with his long-term girlfriend, model Sian Osborne. So far, so unremarkable, right? Who would turn down an invite to a celeb-studded birthday bash on the White Isle? But it was her ‘cryptic’ New Year’s post, coupled with David’s own in a similar thread, which have lead to fans putting two and two together to make five (or should that be three?) and drawing conclusions about the current state of Una’s love life.
After spending the Christmas and New Year period with David and Sian at a luxury resort in Morocco, Una posted a photo of the three of them out for dinner, hand-in-hand over the table, with the caption, ‘I’ve started 2023 in a comfortable place, feeling genuinely happy and at peace. Here’s to this year being ours x’.
Ok, so, the gossip was inevitable, especially when you consider that David also posted his own tribute to the crew with a photo of them all arm-in-arm together in the pool, thanking the ‘beautiful human beings, who do not judge, but instead accept me for my authentic self.’
The three-way set up was allegedly ‘confirmed’ by The Sun, who reported that the couple had sought out a third person to join their relationship on celebrity dating app Raya, and had hit if off with Una after dates with a number of other women.
‘David and Sian were very much in this arrangement together and after being together for two years decided to open their relationship up,’ writes the publication. ‘As part of their profile they said they were ‘seeing what’s out there,’ and said they wanted to try ‘new experiences. They spoke to a few people before being introduced to Una and they hit it off immediately.’
Despite the tabloid claiming those involved have confirmed their relationship with their friends and family, neither Una or her reported partners have spoken publicly. It’s 2023, and consensual non-monogamy – which is an umbrella term for polyamory, open relationships, throuples and a whole load of non-traditional romantic set ups – is more popular than ever as attitudes to sex and sexuality relax and people feel less constrained by nuclear parameters.
So if Una, who split from her husband and father to her two kids, rugby player Ben Foden in 2018 after he admitted to cheating on her, wants to explore her options in her 40s, we say, more power to her! Deviating from established relationship dynamics – and, by extension, established gender roles – is hardly the scandal it was 50, even 20 years ago. And who wouldn’t want to share a bed with David and Sian, anyway?