{"id":641344,"date":"2025-12-19T01:59:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T01:59:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641344\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T01:59:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T01:59:20","slug":"denise-lewis-53-wows-in-a-semi-sheer-black-lace-dress-at-the-bbc-sports-personality-of-the-year-awards-after-breaking-silence-on-divorce-from-husband-of-17-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641344\/","title":{"rendered":"Denise Lewis, 53, wows in a semi-sheer black lace dress at the BBC Sports Personality Of The Year Awards after breaking silence on divorce from husband of 17 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Denise Lewis looked sensational in a lace dress at the Sports Personality Of The Year Awards on Thursday after breaking her silence on divorce from husband of 17 years.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Olympian, 53, turned heads in a semi-sheer black lace midi dress which boasted long sleeves as she hit the red carpet in Media City, Manchester.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Denise showed off her amazing figure in the number which she teamed with black heels as she posed at the star-studded awards.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the evening, Rory McIlroy capped off his incredible year after Masters win and Ryder Cup triumph to claim prestigious SPOTY award.<\/a><\/p>\n

The appearance comes days after the athlete insisted she feels ‘at peace’ with herself after confirming her divorce <\/a>from her\u00a0music mogul husband Steve Finan.<\/p>\n

Denise spoke for the first time about the breakdown of her 17-year marriage, which she confirmed in an Instagram post last month after the pair\u00a0quietly separated two years ago.<\/p>\n

Last year, The Mail on Sunday revealed Steve,\u00a0who was the late Liam Payne<\/a>‘s manager for seven years, moved out of the family home in Buckinghamshire where the couple lived with their three sons.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Denise <\/p>\n

Denise Lewis looked sensational in a lace dress at the Sports Personality Of The Year Awards on Thursday after breaking her silence on divorce from husband of 17 years<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The Olympian, 53, turned heads in a semi-sheer black lace midi dress which boasted long sleeves as she hit the red carpet in Media City, Manchester<\/p>\n

Denise has now admitted that lack of communication in a long term relationship is ‘a massive problem,’ but she is now firmly in her ‘second act’ of life.<\/p>\n

‘I think I feel like I’ve evolved, I feel at peace. It’s not like I haven’t got any more aspirations… I feel secure in myself.’<\/p>\n

‘I want to enjoy and celebrate me. It doesn’t mean that I don’t care about anybody else. I just know where I am in the queue and it’s more towards the front than in the middle and at the back.’<\/p>\n

Speaking to Ateh Jewel on\u00a0HELLO!’s Second Act podcast<\/a>, Denise spoke openly about her priorities in a marriage, insisting that ‘communication is everything throughout and making sure that your values are aligned.’<\/p>\n

She admitted that constant check ins are crucial espeically in longer term relationships and during major life shifts.<\/p>\n

‘When you are starting to change in the marriage, and not checking in with the other person about how they’re changing as well, I think that can be a massive problem,’ she said.<\/p>\n

‘And so I think people who have probably done a better job than me would say that it’s the acceptance of certain behaviors, knowing where your non-negotiables are and being able to communicate.’<\/p>\n

‘I think if you haven’t found that time or don’t make that time to put your relationship back at the centre of everything, then it’s hard. It’s really hard.’<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The appearance comes days after the athlete insisted she feels ‘at peace’ with herself after confirming her divorce from her music mogul husband Steve Finan (pictured together in 2015)<\/p>\n

\"Denise <\/p>\n

Denise showed off her amazing figure in the number which she teamed with black heels as she posed at the star-studded awards<\/p>\n

‘I think you’ve got to respect the individual for not only who they are, what they are, their values and and their growth and evolution. And I think if you lose sight of that, it’s game over, isn’t it?’\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two years on from her split, Denise, who shares three sons with Steve – Ryan, 19, Kane, 16, and Troy, seven and daughter Lauryn, 22, with her ex Patrick Stevens – declared she feels ‘more energized now than I have been over the last decade,’<\/p>\n

‘I’m more prepared to speak my mind as well, which I think is really good,’ she reflected. ‘I’m still curious and I’m still exploring the platform of life. And I think I’m energized. That’s the difference. I’m more energized now than I have been over the last decade.’<\/p>\n

‘My relationships have to work both ways. Am I more forthright? Yeah. I guess I’m more prepared to speak my mind as well.’<\/p>\n

Part of that seismic shift within was the confidence she felt to pose for her first ever lingerie shoot, stripping off for a stunning spread for Coco de Mer.<\/p>\n

‘I put those suspenders on for the first time in my life. I wanted to reframe what it means to be 50 plus,’ Denise explained. ‘I wanted to show that being sensual is still so much part of being a woman of a certain age, and that you should celebrate that.’<\/p>\n

‘You still have your own sex appeal for yourself, it’s you controlling that. It speaks to who I am right now.’<\/p>\n

She was so inspired by this new stage of life that she recently penned a self help book –\u00a0Seven Lessons to Thrive In A World Of Competing Demands, admitting that during the past decade ‘I’ve grown wings. I’ve expanded and I’m in a really good place.’<\/p>\n

Denise\u00a0won gold for Team GB<\/a> in the heptathlon at the Olympic Games in Sydney<\/a>, 2000.<\/p>\n

Since retiring she has carried out punditry duty with the BBC<\/a>, but recently quit after a decade in the chair following last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denise Lewis looked sensational in a lace dress at the Sports Personality Of The Year Awards on Thursday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":641345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3940],"tags":[4080,92,77,29353,459,2465,7126,813,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-641344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-hello","12":"tag-instagram","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-olympics","15":"tag-tvshowbiz","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=641344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/641344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/641345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=641344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=641344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=641344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}