How Alison Hammond's turbulent love life influenced her debut novel, from cheating scandals to surprise encoun - Daily Mail

[Rebecca Lawrence]

• WARNING: Contains mild spoilers for Alison Hammond's novel Bombshell
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By REBECCA LAWRENCE FOR MAILONLINE

Published: 07:49 EST, 11 November 2024 | Updated: 07:56 EST, 11 November 2024


Alison Hammond delighted her fans this month with the release of her debut novel, Bombshell.

The romcom follows protagonist Madison who has given up her own dreams to support her children and her television heartthrob husband's career - only for him to suddenly walk out on their marriage.

Alison - who co-wrote the novel with Lisa Bent - seems to have drawn on many personal experiences in her novel, with the character's turbulent love life mirroring many incidents of her own.

While Alison, 49, is currently loved up with Russian masseur David Putman, 26, she has admitted her dating life hasn't always been so straightforward.

The This Morning star has been through her fair share of heartache, having been cheated on and suffered a failed engagement.

In the novel, Madison, much like Alison, is no stranger to the TV industry, with her husband working as presenter.

Alison makes a clear reference to her own career in the opening chapter, saying the husband works on a DIY show called House Mates - a nod to her stint on Big Brother.

In more parallels, Madison comes from a Jamaican background and is grieving the loss of her mother Selina, who has passed away from a 'fast moving cancer.'

In reality, Alison's beloved mother Maria tragically died in January 2020 after battling lung and liver cancer.

Another link to Alison's real life comes when Madison experiences a life changing visit to a spa.

After being left in shock at her husband walking out on her, a friend books her in for a massage, in which the masseuse helps her work through her emotions and she meets a new friend, Savine.

Alison's boyfriend David is a Russian masseur who she met after she booked him for a £150 massage and the pair hit it off.

In the book, Madison forms a tight bond with Savine, who becomes a confidant and voice of comfort while she sorts through her marriage woes.

Alison has leant on her real friends during times of heartbreak, with it previously being reported that her This Morning co-star Holly Willoughby was 'counselling' her through when she split from landscape gardener Ben Hawkins last year.

In Bombshell, Madison believes her husband is cheating on her but can't figure out how to use dating apps, so enlists her friend Savine to help her set up a fake Tinder profile to try and catch him.

Alison has used Tinder before in her quest for love but confessed she didn't know how to use it.

She previously admitted on This Morning: 'Can I just say when I went on the dating app Tinder – I shouldn’t really promote, there’s lots of different dating apps – but basically, I was swiping the wrong way!

‘So I was swiping the wrong way. So I had all these people, going “I don’t like them!” and they were all the people that I was saying yeah. I just came off the app, I was like, I can’t do it!’

In the book, Madison learns her husband has betrayed her by kissing another woman.

It's an incident that has happened to Alison, who revealed that prior to finding fame she struck up a romance with a man she met in Tunisia, named only as Ben, only to discover he had been unfaithful.

Writing in her autobiography, she confessed: 'My boyfriend was cuddling and kissing another girl.

'Although I really loved Ben, I couldn't go back. When you see your boyfriend kissing someone else - and kissing them the same way they kiss you - it's too upsetting. It was the end of our relationship.'

Alison's longest relationship is believed to have been with taxi driver Noureddine Boufaied, whom she split from in 2014.

The couple got engaged in 2005, the same year they welcomed son Aiden. They have remained on good terms.

After splitting from Noureddine, Alison started dating security guard Jamie Savage, who she met on social media, and they got engaged the same year. Yet it wasn't meant to be and the relationship fizzled out after three years.

In 2020, Alison enlisted professional help in her quest for love and signed up for Celebs Go Dating.

On the show she met audio visual technician and aspiring actor, Ben Kusi, and the pair dated briefly once the cameras stopped rolling.

In 2022, Alison revealed to her This Morning co-host Dermot O'Leary that she had been dating someone in secret for a year and a half.

It then emerged that she was in a relationship with landscape gardener Ben Hawkins.

Yet it came to an end in by February 2023, with Alison going on to advertise her single status by investing in a Pear Ring.

The Pear Ring works the opposite of an engagement ring, with users donning it to show strangers they are available.

The official green ring costs £19.99 and aims to help people find love in person rather than on dating apps.

Adding to her heartbreak, it also emerged Alison was at the centre of an alleged blackmail plot following claims that a male former friend threatened to release false details about her private life.

Alison allegedly told pals she handed over thousands of pounds and a car to a former friend who threatened to leak false details about her private life.

In April this year, Alison's new boyfriend was revealed as 6ft 10in Russian masseur, model and dancer David - who is roughly 20 years her junior.

Alison spoke out about their relationship for the first time in May as she confirmed David has son Aiden's seal of approval.

Explaining the struggles of dating as a mother, Alison confessed: 'It's more difficult, he is more verbal now that he is older. He'll want to know who this person is and he'll want to meet them.

'It's a lot harder. He'll wanna know that this guy is treating me well.

'The person who I am seeing at the moment, he is on his Instagram and is like "yeah I like him, he's not too in your face". Aiden is on it.'

Recalling the first time David and her son met, she revealed: 'When they actually met, he really liked him, he really thought he was lovely, so that's nice.

'Thank goodness for that! Because normally Aiden hates anybody I date, literally just not interested.

'And you just know at that point, if Aiden doesn't like them, this isn't gonna work. There are moments where I think, "Who's the parent here?!"

'It's nice though because I always feel like there's someone there looking over me, protecting me.'

Recently, the presenter sparked engagement rumours when she was spotted wearing a giant diamond ring on her ring finger on This Morning.

During the episode, Alison and Dermot O'Leary sat down for the showbiz headlines, and she took a look at her iPad and exclaimed: 'Oh my god apparently I am engaged?!'

Squashing the rumours she confirmed David is yet to pop the question as she explained she had put her ring on the wrong finger.

'Oh I have put this on the wrong finger,' she said shocked, 'Let me swap it over to stop these rumours.'

While the ring looked rather flashy, the presenter insisted it was just a cheap thing as she was taken aback by the engagement rumours.

Slightly flustered, she added: 'It is just a cheap ring from Primark. It's nice, isn't it?! Let's swap it over as we don't want those rumours.'

The couple's relationship emerged earlier this year despite their 23-year age gap, which is said to have caused an issue with David's mother.

David is head over heels for the TV presenter and is said to be ignoring his mother Olga's advice to end things because of their age gap and the fame Alison has brought to her son.

Olga is said to have been calling her son every day with pleas to break up with Alison, but David is firmly turning his back on her advice.

A source told The Sun: 'David is happy with his relationship so anything his mum says isn’t going to affect him.

'She's uncomfortable that her son is with someone who has so much more financial power than him. Olga’s traditional values don’t sit well with their relationship.

'She's told him in no uncertain terms that he must end it. Olga raised her children in the Orthodox Church. This kind of relationship doesn’t fit her beliefs.

'She calls her son almost every day and tells him how unhappy she is.'

Originally from Krasnodar in Russia, David left the country for the UK in December 2022 to escape the front line following President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Alison announced he news of her debut novel In a video posted on her Instagram Story, where she said: 'Hi everyone, I've got some fantastic news for you.

'I've got a new book coming out. Yes! It's coming out this November, in the autumn. It's absolutely brilliant.

'My character is called Madison and she's married to a TV heartthrob husband who is absolutely gorgeous.

'Anyway, he lands this massive bombshell onto Madison that kind of flips her life upside down.

'She's given so much up for her kids, her career, it's time to reclaim her own worth. I'm not going to tell you anymore but it's brilliant.'

Bombshell is available to buy now