WHEN Ore Oduba won Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, he had the world at his feet. But a decade on from lifting the Glitterball Trophy, his life is unrecognisable.
The star, 40, has undergone a dramatic transformation over the last few years after the death of his father and a from his wife of nine years. Now, an insider reveals the heartbreaking moment that changed everything for him – and how the new path led him to come clean about his porn confession.
Ore Oduba has shared his raw emotions with fans throughout his ‘journey’ Credit: oreodubaofficial / Instagram
Ore with his ex-wife, Portia, in happier times Credit: Getty
Ore was a sports broadcaster for and before going on to present and draws.
But his fame catapulted in 2016, when he beat and to be the surprise Strictly champion. He then went on to become a West End star, performing in Grease and The Rocky Horror Show.
But when the pandemic struck in 2020 and theatres closed, he lost work, which forced him to confront some demons of his past.
In 2021, he appeared on ‘s Celebrity . He later said he suffered from after returning home from filming the show and the brutal conditions of camp.
This appeared to be the first in a series of devastating events, which sent his life into a spiral.
Two years after his gruelling experience on Celeb SAS alongside the likes of , and , the TV star’s world caved in with the death of his dad in October 2023.
Devastatingly, two years later, he lost his sister to suicide.
An insider tells The Sun: “For Ore, the loss of work during the Covid , followed by his stint on SAS, marked the start of a difficult chapter.
“He had a lot of time to think about his life and what he wanted from it.
“It took the traumatic deaths of his dad and sister to make him put those thoughts into action.
“His life transformation has been difficult and painful, yet necessary.
“He was hiding a lot of secrets that caused him to carry huge amounts of shame.”
Ore faced further turmoil when, in 2024, he split from his wife, Portia, whom he met in 2010 while studying at Loughborough University.
In a statement on social media, he wrote: “Portia and I are sad to announce that we separated earlier this year.
“We are so grateful for all the love you’ve shared with us both over the years, and we want to thank you in advance for respecting our privacy as we navigate this difficult transition. We will be making no further comment.”
The pair share two children, son Roman, born in 2018 and daughter Genie, born in 2021.
Reflecting on the change in his life since his split in 2023, Ore told Extradionary Life Stories: “The life before that and the life that I’ve grown into are just … entirely different.
“There’s nothing, there are no similarities whatsoever.”
He added that he had been living in “crippling fear” and “pressing some red buttons in my life, some self-destruct buttons, because I knew that I couldn’t carry on as it was”.
Earlier this year, Ore and Portia’s children faced heartbreak when their family home, which they bought in 2022 in Tunbridge Wells, , had to be sold.
He split from his wife in 2023 – they share two kids Credit: Instagram
He suffered PTSD from doing Celebrity SAS Credit: PA
Portia said on social media in March: “I told the children that we are selling the house.
“It’s hard, especially for Roman, to have these conversations. He’s really upset.
“I tried to explain why. It’s gutting.”
Ore opened up about his financial situation in an interview with The Times, admitting: “Strictly gave me a false sense of stability.”
The BBC show also led Ore to “unwittingly” stop practising his Christian faith, which he has recently rediscovered.
He explained: “The difficulty in the past few years has been deciding between the security of a regular income versus a less creatively stifled travelling theatre job that takes me away from my children. It’s a difficult balance.”
Ore says he’s now and is choosing to look for alternative investment avenues instead of buying another home.
He said: “I’ve taken a few gambles in my life in the past couple of years, and I’m trying to not let fear stop me from making bold choices.
Ore won Strictly Come Dancing in 2016 Credit: BBC
His sister Lola, battled personal demons in the lead-up to her tragic death Credit: Instagram
“I do hope at some point to lower my shoulders a little bit with the help of my pension.
“In terms of property, honestly, sometimes I’m all but ready to buy a motorhome and get a dog. Home, for me, is way beyond bricks and mortar.”
On top of his divorce upset, grief of his father and limited work, Ore was forced to face further loss when his younger sister Lola took her own life in April 2025.
She revealed in a suicide letter that she had been secretly struggling with her identity, choosing to identify as non-binary after a difficult period in her life.
Lola, who had worked as a Guardian journalist and trained chef, had appeared on before her tragic death.
It inspired Ore to finally face up to his own battles after a 30-year struggle with addiction – admitting he had spent “thousands and thousands” of pounds on porn since he was nine-years-old.
The 40-year-old said he wanted to rid himself of the “shame” it forced him to live with after it destroyed his life “from the inside out”. Ore now helps campaign against explicit content online.
He told The Times: “I’ve spent thousands on pornography. It makes me burn that this is what our children are inheriting, and what we’re doing as adults is relinquishing our responsibility to regulate it.
Ore with his dad again the year before his death Credit: Instagram
Ore and Portia at the Pride of Britain Awards in 2018 Credit: Getty
“That’s why I wanted to highlight the dangers of explicit imagery online.
“It’s so blindingly obvious as an issue, but very few people are willing to talk about it.”
He has since been focusing on working on himself to be the best possible dad for his two kids – shedding the past traumas of his childhood and porn addiction.
Ore broke down in tears this week as he opened up about how his relationship he had with his own dad had made him struggle with fatherhood.
Speaking on a podcast, The Actors Safe Space, Ore said: “For so many years, I thought being a dad was just being the opposite of how my dad had been with me.
“I didn’t realise that anger, fear and the trajectory my life was heading in, I’d inherited and created the exact same pattern with my own children.
“It got to a point where I believed being with my kids, spending time with them, was preventing me from doing the one thing I thought I was supposed to do for them – provide.
“It was breaking me. But I didn’t have the emotional capacity or the tools to be the kind of dad I wanted to be.
“Reversing or stopping generational patterns altogether in parenthood is at times impossible.
“The work is ongoing, but I’m so glad today to enjoy the relationship with my children I never knew I had the potential to have.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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