Madeleine West opens up about ‘toxic’ split from Shannon Bennett

The Neighbours star gets candid about the lowest points of her split from celeb chef Shannon Bennett in a searing new post.

Neighbours star Madeleine West has opened up about her 2018 split from celebrity chef Shannon Bennett in a candid new Instagram post.

While West never mentions Bennett by name in the post, she speaks of feeling like it might have been “easier to stay … especially when kids are involved.” The pair were together for 13 years, and have six children together.

“Separation hurts, it gets dirty, vicious, it can bring out the very worst in you as it brings you to your knees. It tears apart your world, damages the things you hold dearest and turns love toxic. You wouldn’t put your worst enemy through it, let alone the person you promised to love and honour for as long as you both shall live,” West began in the heartfelt post.

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Shannon Bennett (L) and Madeleine West split in 2018 after 13 years and six children together. Picture: Getty

West wrote that she “failed” and wished she “knew then what I know now,” speaking of the “crushing loneliness” that followed the split.

“I wish I’d known how hard it would be to be rudderless, to challenge everything I thought I knew about myself and my world. I wish I’d known how hard it would be to re-establish my sense of self when for so long my whole identity revolved around being one half of a duo that was now a solo act,” she wrote.

West said she wished she’d known how hard the split would be on her children – and on herself.

Madeleine West: “I wish I’d known how hard it would be to navigate your world single-handedly.”

“I wish I’d known that divorce is more than division of assets, it’s division of homes, friends, hopes, dreams. I wish I’d known how inherently unfair it is, that the system works in no-ones favour. There are no winners, just who loses more,” she continued.

“And I wish someone had warned me about the guilt. I see now why some believe its easier to simply stay, especially when kids are involved. But I fail to see how giving your little people a front-row seat to their parents misery is protecting them.”

West concluded by saying that, despite the many things she wished she’d known before the split, she had no regrets.

“Regret is redundant. I suppose these are costs, painful, inconvenient, but sometimes necessary to create change.”

In a typically candid interview last month, West revealed that her first sexual encounter after her split from Bennett was far from perfect.

However, it did give her the benefit of a “really important realisation” about how to approach her sex life.

West plants a tree alongside her new beau.

“I am my sexiest when I am just being me. I’ve birthed six children, I look after my body, I’ve worked hard in life – and ever since that realisation, I’ve enjoyed it ever since,” she told Mamamia’s No Filter podcast.

Elsewhere in that interview, West confirmed reports she is now happily dating Byron Bay environmentalist Maximo Bottaro, who she met while volunteering for his environmental organisation ReForest Now.

“The way he carried himself was so attractive. Seeing his passion and self-belief was key,” she said, adding that he was unaware of her TV fame. “He knew absolutely nothing about me. Why would you think you’d find an actor who is associated with wealth and luxury standing on the side of muddy rainforest hill, wearing work boots and ready to muck in?”