Darren Day confirms he is engaged for the SIXTH time after proposing to girlfriend Sophie Ladds

Darren Day has announced his sixth engagement, little more than a year after confirming the end of his 12-year marriage to actress Stephanie Dooley.

The 52-year old lothario revealed his proposal to girlfriend Sophie Ladds by sharing photos of her stunning engagement ring with Twitter followers on Sunday evening.

Captioning two shots of their clasped hands, he wrote: ‘Spot the difference! My girl @SophieLadds & I just got engaged. She rocks my world.’

Announcing the news on her own Twitter platform, actress Sophie added: ‘DarrenDOfficial you have made me the happiest girl in the world. Always…forever…and a Sophie Day.’ 

The engagement comes exactly a year after Darren confirmed his marriage to Emmerdale star Stephanie Dooley was over. 

In a statement published in August 2019, the couple announced they had separated in October 2018, just over a year after renewing their vows.

‘Stephanie and Darren separated back in October 2018. It is a personal matter that they have chosen to deal with privately. There was nobody else involved on either side,’ an official comment read to HELLO! magazine.

The former couple married in 2007 at Comlongon Castle in Dumfries, Scotland, and share children Madison and Dalton.   

In June 2017, Darren and Stephanie renewed their vows in a lavish ceremony at the same venue.

Speaking about the big day, Stephanie told HELLO!: ‘To stand with Darren ten years on, I’m not just proud of him as my husband, but of his sobriety and his strength.

‘I knew he was going to be a good husband, but looking at what sort of man and father he has become, I feel more in love and more committed to him than ever.’

Before marrying Stephanie, Darren – who was voted Britain’s Number One Love Rat for seven years from 1999 to 2006 – had a notoriously convoluted love life, with Isla Fisher and Anna Friel among the long list of beauties who once dated him. 

The actor originally proposed to Friel during their three year relationship, before giving her £30,000 engagement ring to former Coronation Street star Tracy Shaw following their split in 1997. 

After separating from Shaw in 1998, Darren quickly moved on with Australian star Isla Fisher, with whom he confirmed his third engagement. 

Despite describing Fisher as ‘the first woman he’d ever loved,’ Darren separated from the actress in 2000, with ‘hectic work schedules cited as a reason for the split.   

By 2002 the star was involved in a new relationship with dancer Adele Vellacot after the pair performed in the same pantomime, with Darren confidently predicting they would ‘be together for a long time.’

But the relationship soon unravelled after his backstage fling with Summer Holiday co-star Suzanne Shaw was exposed. 

The actor would go on to announce his engagement to Shaw, but despite welcoming son Corey Mackenzie with his fourth fiancée in December 2005, the relationship ended on Mother’s Day the following year. 

In 2016 Darren insisted that his days of being a so-called ‘love rat’ were long behind him, after he earned the famous title throughout the 2000s.

Speaking on Lorraine he said: ‘There were times I know when I wasn’t a role model and things are very different now.

‘It’s taken time to build up bridges again, the last decade – I’ve worked hard and it finally feels like all the hard work has paid off.’

He added: ‘My lifestyle changed, I don’t drink, I even gave up smoking I try and be a good husband and father and be a good man.’