Ex-Emmerdale star Gemma Oaten confirms she's split from her boyfriend and bemoans 'I get hurt a lot'

Gemma Oaten has revealed she is single again after splitting from her latest boyfriend and admitted she gets 'hurt a lot'. 

The Emmerdale actress, 41, took to Instagram on Tuesday and shared a post confirming her relationship status.

The soap star, who didn't reveal her former partner's identity, insisted she is 'thriving' while being single and wants to 'break the stigma' of not being partnered up.   

She wrote: 'BREAKING NEWS: I am single. ​DOUBLE BREAKING NEWS: I'm actually quite happy to be so.

'​Seriously though… there's a specific kind of heaviness that comes with feeling lonely in a relationship. It's a weight you don't have to carry anymore.

'​Don't get me wrong, my heart is not closed. Anybody who knows me knows that I am such an open book—hence why I probably get hurt a lot! But I really want to try and normalise the conversation that you don't have to be in a relationship.

'​Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you thought it 'had' to, and you realise that being solo is actually the best route for you and your mental health right now. It's not a waiting room; it's a destination. I'm doing more than okay; I'm thriving.

'​Plus, who needs the drama when I've got my dog? That's all that really matters. ✨

'​So heres a wee video as to why some conversations I've had recently are nothing to do with anybody; it's just bizarre that people have to ask. 

'Let's stop and break the stigma... ​It's OK to be single.'

In a video message, Gemma also discussed some of the things her friends say to her about being single and how she doesn't agree with them.

'Do I choose to pick a******s who hurt me? I don't,' she said.

'And then there's, 'there's someone out there for everyone.' I'm my somebody! I just want to say, ladies, men, if you're single and happy with it, don't feel like you have to explain yourself.'

Gemma was previously in a relationship with DIY: SOS presenter Nick Knowles.

The actress met the future Strictly Come Dancing star at the TV Choice Awards in 2016 following his break up from second wife Jessica Moor.

Nick soon whisked her to dinner and then on a romantic getaway, before photos of them cosying up together at the ceremony were published, leading to him 'changing in an instant'.

Gemma, who played Rachel Breckle in the ITV soap, told The Mirror: 'It was all about him and how it was going to affect his family. It was really cruel as he said it didn't matter for me. I felt sick.'

'I said, "Do you want to throw away what we have? We have done nothing wrong". But he just dropped me like a ton of bricks. I thought it was a real relationship and he wasn't afraid to let others know.'

Prior to her short-lived romance with Nick, she dated Andy Barnes in 2014 and Scott Walker for over a year before that.