Darts legend Wayne Mardle finds new love 15 months after tragic demise of spouse
Darts favourite Wayne Mardle has found love again 15 months after he tragically lost his wife Donna in December 2024 following a short battle with illness
Wayne Mardle has found new love 15 months after the tragic death of his wife(Image: Matt McNulty, Getty Images)
Wayne Mardle has found happiness in a new relationship, 15 months after the heartbreaking death of his wife Donna. The darts icon lost his partner of 22 years following a brief illness in December 2024.
The 52-year-old, who regularly appears on Sky Sports’ darts coverage, has spoken openly about his bereavement after Donna’s passing. He has discussed the “brutal” reality of grief and encouraged his social media followers to “just get on with it how you think is right”.
It has now come to light that Mardle is dating Deborah, a 52-year-old single mother who shares content on TikTok under the username ‘changingmylifedeb’. While the majority of her posts focus on rediscovering joy in middle age, Deborah has also uploaded clips featuring Wayne.
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“If you’re lucky enough to get a second chance at happiness, it’s really important you take it,” she captioned a video showing herself and Wayne beaming at the camera. The post continued: “So happy we found each other and can’t wait for what’s ahead for us both now, together.”
A separate video featured her dog gazing out of the window while Wayne appeared on television, presenting the darts for Sky Sports. “When your boyfriend left a few hours ago and now you’re watching him on TV, but the dog’s only wondering when dad’s coming back to walk him,” the caption read.
Another post, featuring Deborah grinning at the camera, reads: “The best feeling in the world is meeting someone after heartache unexpectedly. Falling in love with them effortlessly. And finding out that you can feel more loved by them in weeks than you ever did over years with someone else.”
She added: “You know that really annoying saying people have, that real love will find you when you least expect it. Well I’m happy to report it’s true.”
Wayne has opened up extensively about mourning Donna, sharing his raw emotions in a February video. “My wife Donna died on December 11, 2024, so about 430 odd days ago, I used to count the days, call that progress, call it what you like,” he said.
“It doesn’t feel like progress, it is absolutely brutal. The reason I’m doing this is, while it is brutal, I am still here and all you can do is keep trying, right, keep trying. It is a process, so I’m told and you go through stages. You don’t go through stages. You go through phases, there’s a phase and then there’s another phase. Before you know it that phase is returning so the stage or phase you think is going to pass, it doesn’t work that way.
“So however you’re feeling is how you’re feeling, don’t worry about it and when I say that I literally mean deal with it how you feel you want to deal with it, there’s no right or wrong here. I used to literally go every day to Donna’s graveside. I haven’t been there for the past… well, since Christmas Day and it is now February 21.
“I don’t feel guilty, I just feel like I can’t do it because it beats me, beats me every time I go over there, you have a millisecond off of forgetting, right, that’s about it. But I just want to tell you all, that those who are going through similar, don’t overthink it, don’t double bluff yourself, just get on with it how you think is right and the people who question you are not your friends, they’re not your family, they have a perception of grief, it’s incorrect.
“It’s just brutal, it really is brutal but all I’m saying to all of you is, if I can help one person, I’m not even helping myself here, I don’t know what I’m doing, just do it how you want to do it, don’t overthink it, please don’t. I hope tomorrow is better than today.”
