Olivia Attwood has offered her clearest explanation yet for why her lavish 2023 wedding to Bradley Dack never became a legal marriage.
The 35-year-old presenter says she is now relieved that she and Dack never completed the legal paperwork, arguing that she had doubts about his honesty and that remaining unmarried protected her financially as problems developed in their relationship.
Earlier reports said they planned to complete the paperwork later but abandoned that step after Attwood discovered unspecified “mistruths.”
Attwood has also addressed the timeline of her relationship with longtime friend Pete Wicks, saying he did not make his romantic feelings known until he knew she and Dack had separated.
Attwood Says Not Signing Ultimately Protected Her
Attwood revisited the marriage controversy in her first major interview since the relationship ended, telling Cosmopolitan that she faced intense criticism after the truth about the wedding became public. She said her sister pointed out what she considered a double standard in the reaction.
“My sister said to me, ‘If it was a man who was skeptical about their partner’s honesty, and they didn’t legally bind themselves to a person, everyone would be like, good for you, because she would’ve taken half your money,’” Attwood said, according to The Sun. “I did the same thing and they wanted to burn me at the f****** stake,” she continued.
“Where would I be now (if we had signed?) It’s been hard enough untangling our lives.” Attwood said the relationship developed “teething problems” after the 2023 ceremony and described herself and Dack as having lived in a “grey area” for years.
The Televised Wedding Was Never Legally Registered
‘There’s so much that doesn’t add up about them’: Olivia Attwood’s latest lie revealed as insiders tell MOLLY CLAYTON truth behind sale of £1m luxury mansion she shared with Bradley Dack… and unpick her Pete Wicks narrative https://t.co/GjsZpqr9JX
— Mail+ (@DailyMailUK) August 7, 2026
Attwood and Dack held their ceremony at the Bulgari Hotel in Knightsbridge on June 3rd, 2023, surrounded by approximately 80 friends and relatives. The wedding was filmed for ITV’s Olivia Marries Her Match. Viewers saw the couple exchange vows and sign a document, and both publicly presented themselves as married afterward.
It emerged following their split that the hotel did not have the required marriage licence at the time. ITV News reported in March that the wedding planner had unsuccessfully attempted to arrange the licence and that an appointment was subsequently booked at a Cheshire registry office approximately six weeks later. That appointment never took place.
A source familiar with the situation said Attwood discovered “a number of mistruths” during those weeks and the couple put the legal paperwork on hold. Attwood and Dack nevertheless continued publicly using the language of marriage.
She used the Dack surname professionally, and their relationship continued for more than two years after the wedding ceremony. The Daily Mail has argued that Attwood’s new explanation conflicts with the account given when the marriage controversy first surfaced.
She Says Pete Wicks Waited Until She Was Separated
Attwood also used the Cosmopolitan interview to address questions surrounding when her longtime friendship with Pete Wicks became romantic. The pair had known each other for years and worked together, but their closeness became a source of speculation after they were photographed cuddling on a yacht during an Ibiza work trip in 2025, while Attwood was still with Dack.
Attwood later said nothing romantic happened during that trip. “We were all on the boat, drinking and hugging each other and being best friends, it was family vibes,” she previously said, while acknowledging that Dack did not like the photographs.
In the new interview, Attwood said Wicks was the person who changed the nature of their relationship after the separation. “Once he knew I was separated, he made his feelings known, and it all happened quite quickly,” she told Cosmopolitan, according to The Sun.
Attwood said the shift surprised them because their friendship had previously involved constant bickering. “We always got on so well but we bickered like brother and sister,” she said. The pair were photographed appearing to kiss at a Soho bar in March, several months after Attwood says her relationship with Dack ended.
Wicks Eventually Made the Relationship Instagram Official
Wicks publicly confirmed their relationship in July with photographs from a trip to Ibiza. The black-and-white carousel showed the pair cuddling on a boat and relaxing together on a beach. “I guess someone has to go first…IBIZA,” Wicks wrote.
Attwood replied, “Oh so you DO listen to my podcast,” referring to a recent episode in which she had made clear that she would not be the person to “hard launch” the relationship first.
Attwood Says an Alleged Betrayal in January Made Her Leave
Attwood has also been more explicit about what she says finally ended her relationship with Dack. She told Cosmopolitan that she was approached at an event in January and informed that Dack had allegedly been with another woman during a night out. “There was nowhere left for him to hide,” she said. “As soon as I knew it had happened to me, I couldn’t stay.”
“The only person I would be cheating is myself,” she added. Dack has not publicly provided a detailed response addressing the specific incidents she has described.
Attwood had previously gone further in a March Instagram statement, alleging that she had stood by Dack for 10 years while he “lied & cheated on me multiple times.” “The breakdown of our relationship is because of this,” she wrote, describing the public discussion of their private life as “utterly humiliating.”
Dack later entered the conversation when Daily Mail columnist Katie Hind challenged Attwood’s account beneath a Goss.ie Instagram post. “You’ve got a lot of this wrong.. just leave her alone please,” he wrote.