Nuzzling his wife’s neck as she soaked up the Mexican sunshine on her lounger, Dan Osborne looked like any other besotted husband in recent pictures captured by paparazzi.

In a second snap, Jacqueline Jossa, the popular EastEnders actress, affectionately caressed the cheeks of her reality-TV star husband as they enjoyed a family holiday with their daughters Ella, ten, and Mia, six.

However, the pictures, released a few days ago, have come as a shock to some of the couple’s fans. This is because just weeks ago, Dan and Jacqueline announced to the world they were splitting up after almost eight years of turbulent marriage and claims of his cheating.

Bizarrely, barely a fortnight later they were spotted – once again by the paparazzi – spending a secret night together at Dan’s new home in Essex.

When it comes to their relationship status, ‘it’s complicated’ would be an understatement, those who know the couple tell me.

When they announced they were separating in March, they left no room for doubt.

‘Jacqueline and Dan are handling things privately,’ said their representatives. ‘Their children remain their top priority, surrounded by love and care from both parents – something that will never change.’

Days later it was revealed that Dan, 33, had secretly bought a house in Southend, Essex, last year without his wife, 32, knowing. She was said to have ‘felt betrayed’ by the purchase.

So just what is going on between the pair, who have lived out much of their lives in red-top newspapers and glossy magazines?

Sources tell me that Jacqueline has been desperately trying to keep their marital problems away from the limelight, while Dan has been happier for the news of their split to come out.

Pictures of Dan and Jacqueline on holiday in Cancun, Mexico, were released a few days ago

Nuzzling his wife’s neck as she soaked up the Mexican sunshine on her lounger, Dan Osborne looked like any other besotted husband

Friends say that Jacqueline, who plays Lauren Branning on the BBC’s EastEnders, has been keen to portray the ‘perfect family life’ - while Dan has simply ‘had enough’ of their fall-outs.

One says: ‘Jac wants the world to see that things are perfect: she has a handsome husband, two beautiful kids and a great job. But behind closed doors, things are not like that. She has wanted to keep the family image alive but things were not going well between them. 

'Dan found it very difficult, he would say that things were pretty awful between them at times and he knew that they had to end it but she didn’t want that. Dan was fed up of living this fake life.

‘In fact, when the word started to get out about their split, Jac wanted it denied while Dan was more keen that it was out there and enlisted in the help of some industry experts to help him.’

One friend said: 'Dan found it very difficult, he would say that things were pretty awful between them at times and he knew that they had to end it but she didn’t want that'

Another factor behind Dan’s desire to split from Jacqueline was the fact he was being left to do all the childcare for Ella and Mia while she worked long hours

Friends of Dan, who catapulted to fame on ITV’s reality show The Only Way Is Essex, say that he found living with Jacqueline ‘suffocating’ at times and that things often had to be on her terms.

Understandably, following various cheating allegations, Jacqueline wanted to know where Dan was and who he was with - but he felt that he had ‘more than proved himself’ to be loyal to her, according to friends.

‘He could no longer carry on and so decided to buy that new house,’ says a pal. ‘He never said he didn’t love her, but he couldn’t carry on living the way they were, so he bought a new place with a view to them separating.

‘She solely owns the family home so he was looking out for himself. Perhaps you can’t blame him: things had been bad for months before he did that.’

Another factor behind Dan’s desire to split from Jacqueline was the fact he was being left to do all the childcare for Ella and Mia, while she worked gruelling hours on the long-running soap.

Late last year Jacqueline was particularly busy with the show’s 40th anniversary, something she was a huge part of.

‘Dan felt he has supported her career so much,’ added the friend. ‘He has done all of the childcare, the drop-offs, pick ups, the clubs, and he fits his work around that.

‘Jac’s job is all-consuming, and while Dan understands that, it doesn’t make it easy.’

So why the holiday to Mexico, and more to the point, did they know that the paparazzi were lurking nearby at the five-star, £380-a-night Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya? I’m told that the pair have form for setting up pictures - but it’s unclear whether that was the case on this occasion.

Regardless, their cosiness, captured on camera, has hardly dispelled speculation that Jacqueline is determined to keep her man.

‘Dan has always wanted things to be amicable,’ says a friend. ‘He doesn’t want fall-out and toxicity with the mother of his children. There was talk of it being a “make or break” holiday: maybe it will make them but it’s more likely that it is wishful thinking on Jac’s part.

‘All of the tactile stuff makes you wonder whether they knew the photographers were there. Who knows? But Jac is devastated at the split and would love more than anything to make things work. Clearly she is determined to do so, but Dan just wants to keep things happy and calm for the sake of the kids.’

Indeed, it’s been up and down for Dan and Jacqueline almost since they met in 2013, shortly after Dan had his first son Teddy with his ex Megan Tomlin. He married Jacqueline in 2017 in a stunning ceremony at Delamere Manor in Cheshire. The publicity-hungry couple’s big day featured in OK! magazine in return for a fee of several thousand pounds.

But just a year later, in April 2018, Dan was seen cosying up with Love Islander Gabby Allen on a yacht in Marbella. A month later, it was reported then-pregnant Jacqueline had confronted a ‘mystery woman’, after hearing rumours Dan had cheated on her just months after their wedding.

The following September, Dan was forced to deny having had a threesome with Celebrity Big Brother model Chloe Ayling and US reality TV star Natalie Nunn. Six months later, he was snapped kissing Love Islander Alexandra Cane.

Jacqueline threatened to leave I’m A Celebrity, which she went on to win, in 2019 after campmate Myles Stephenson told her he believed her husband had cheated with Gabby. She was allowed out of the jungle to send him a voicemail and receive one back.

In 2020, Jacqueline walked out on Dan after quizzing him over a flirty message to Gabby, who apparently did not respond.

Dan confessed publicly to having made ‘mistakes’, admitting: ‘I’ve done things I shouldn’t have done.’

Now though, say friends, he is ready to move on.

‘Dan will always love Jac but he thinks it’s time to cut the cord and live life as a single man,’ said one.