The Only Way Is Essex ‘star’ Lauren Goodger has revealed that she still has feelings for her ex and former co-star, Mark Wright.  Well that was pretty obvious, but what you might find surprising is that wannabe-diva claims the feeling is mutual!!!

Goodger dated Wright from when they were at school, and were the Essex couple when their lives were taken over by the camera’s a few years ago.  On screen they were more than intolerable of each other, and despite Wright proposing during series two, the couple eventually spilt and Wright left the show.

Since then Goodger has found herself drifting further and further from the main storylines and drama, as her life simply wasn’t as interesting now we weren’t watching Mark Wright treat her like a door matt.  The situation came to a head during an episode being filmed to celebrate her co-stars Billi Mucklow, Cara Kilbey and James Argent‘s London Marathon triumphs, when she threw a hissy fit claiming that she was the main star of the show and that filming should be centred around her and that if she wasn’t treated with more respect then she would hot-foot it over to MTV with her sisters to form the new UK version of the Kardashian’s.  The show execs quickly suspended the reality ‘star’ and we all sat with fingers crossed hoping we would never hear her drone on about how she and Wright had been together 9 years, ever again.

But, alas, she went grovelling back and the producers reluctantly agreed to continue filming her hugging people in the background of the show.

This incident did not get her much sympathy with the public, and soon she found herself at the centre of an internet troll hate campaign, which made her very pouty indeed.  That is untill Mark Wright came out and publicly defended her (on the same day as his new reality show was about to premier – coincidence much?).

This gave the salon owner the perfect opportunity to say something that people would right about, even if it is for all the wrong reasons, because according to the Sun newspaper today, Goodger has claimed that she and Wright, who is currently dating US volleyball player Chelsea Rashoff, still harbour deep feelings for each other.

We can’t wait to see what Wright has to say about this, but in the meantime Goodger was quick to follow that statement up by saying that despite these deep harbouring feelings of love, she is happy being single!

“I’m not locked away in a relationship where I’ve felt a bit insecure. I’m getting the old me back that I lost.

“I feel good again. I’m the person I want to be again. I can’t stop smiling.”

“When you’re in a relationship, you lose your identity. It’s always been ‘Lauren and Mark’ and now it’s ‘I’m Lauren’.”

She then went on to say how pictures of her flirting with Tottenham Hotspur player, Jake Livermore, would have “wound Mark up”, claiming: ”Yeah, of course he will be bothered. I would be too, I won’t deny it. It’s a natural feeling.

“We’re never not going to care. We’ll always have that history.”

Both Goodger and Wright were spotted at the same club recently, but despite the fact that at the end of his statement defending her Wright said that they were not friends but he wished her well, Goodger has declared that they are still in touch, saying: ”Yeah, up and down. It’s difficult because we’ve still got a lot of feelings for each other, but it’s just not right,” before discussing the possibility of them getting back together, of which she said: ”At the minute, I’m going forward. If we were together, I don’t think we’d be able to do the things we want to do.

“Would he have gone off and done his show? No, he wouldn’t – it would probably have been me and him doing a show.

But she added: “Everything happens for a reason. Whatever’s meant to be will be.”

Watch Wright trying to tell Goodger that their relationship is dead in the water in the clip below:

You can read the full interview with Lauren in this week’s new! magazine – out today.