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Monday, 12 January 2009

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Melinda Messenger back with husband

Couple resolve differences to save their 10-year marriage

Melinda Messenger and Wayne Roberts want to put their children first

Dancing On Ice contestant Melinda Messenger recently announced that she’s getting back together with her husband Wayne Roberts, 34, after an 8-month separation.

Describing the excitement as ‘almost unbearable’, she revealed: ‘We’re giving it our best shot. We’ve still got a mountain to climb, but we’re trying. We want to keep our family together.’

The couple met in 1996 and married 2 years later in Bali. But they announced a trial separation last April.

Among the issues said to have caused a strain was 37-year-old Melinda’s commitment to the Steiner Theory of education – which emphasises creativity and play – for their children Morgan, 8, Flynn, 6, and Evie, 5.

‘It caused endless problems between us,’ she says. ‘Wayne would say: “What are you doing? Morgan should be learning to read!”

'He thought I’d gone mad. And I felt like I was towing this juggernaut all by myself. I thought that if he didn’t see life as I saw it, maybe we shouldn’t be together.’

But the couple have now started to resolve their differences. A friend tells Now: ‘Melinda can be stubborn, especially when it comes to the kids. She’s passionate about how they should be brought up.

'But she found life as a single mum lonely and missed Wayne.

‘They really love each other, so they’re determined to go into the New Year as a proper family. No marriage is easy, but if they work hard at it there’s every chance they’ll stay together.’

Read the full story in this week's issue of Now, dated 12 January