Sheridan Smith and Jamie Horn announce separation

Couple confirm they will spent ‘some time apart’ but remain ‘committed’ to raising their one-year-old son together

Sheridan Smith attends a photocall to launch the new BBC One drama “Care” at BAFTA on 27 November 2018 (Getty Images)

Sheridan Smith and her fiancé Jamie Horn have announced they are separating after three years together.

Bafta-award winning Smith confirmed the news in a joint statement with Horn, a former insurance broker, to The Sun on Sunday.

It comes after the couple welcomed the birth of their baby son, Billy, in May last year.

In a statement, they said: “It is with great sadness that we have decided to have some time apart.

“We both remain completely committed to raising our beautiful boy Billy together. We ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time. Thank you.”

Smith, 40, previously spoke about how she “just clicked” with Horn after the pair met through Tinder in 2018. They appeared together in the ITV documentary Sheridan Smith: Becoming Mum last year.

After the birth of her son, Sheridan shared a picture of him on Instagram and said: “Our little man has arrived! We are both completely overwhelmed with love.”

The actor is best known for her roles on stage and screen, including the Legally Blonde musical, as well as television series such as Mrs Biggs, Gavin and Stacey, The Royle Family and Benidorm.

Smith described giving birth in lockdown as “surreal”, adding: “You’re kind of walking around in a bit of a daze.”

She said: “If it hadn’t been a pandemic, we would have had more people to rely on so we could both get some rest.

“But thank goodness we had each other, because Jamie took a lot of time with the baby as well, so I got to sleep in between breastfeeding.

“But we were walking around like zombies and we didn’t really know what day it was. When there’s this bundle of joy though, the good times make up for the bad. It was just us as a little three, without other people to rely on.

“But everyone who has had a baby always says you just get on with it and do it.”