Kristina Rihanoff hinted that she was feeling financial strain back in 2023, over a year before her relationship with fiancé Ben Cohen ended, reportedly over money troubles.
The former Strictly Come Dancing star, 47, and the ex-rugby player, 46, became the latest stars to be hit by the infamous ‘Strictly curse’ after their 12-year romance ended in heartbreak this month.
MailOnline was told that the severe financial difficulties they had recently experienced are believed to have been behind their split.
And Kristina gave a strong hint that the pair were having financial difficulties in November 2023, as she revealed the measures she’d undertaken to curb her spending during the cost-of-living crisis.
The professional dancer suggested they were also feeling the pinch, as she admitted to eating out less and no longer paying for salon treatments.
She told The Sun: ‘I’m much more conscious about things, and we don’t do as many things, such as going out for food.
Kristina Rihanoff hinted that she was feeling financial strain back in 2023, over a year before her relationship with fiancé Ben Cohen ended, reportedly over money troubles (seen in June)
The Strictly star, 47, and the rugby player, 46, became the latest stars to be hit by the infamous ‘Strictly curse’ after their 12-year romance ended in heartbreak this month (pictured together)
‘I also don’t get my nails done as often. I used to go for manicures and pedicures but now I can do them all myself.
‘During lockdown I got my gel nail polish and I do it all myself at home, with my kids and it’s lovely, as opposed to spending £30-40 pounds on something I can quite easily do myself, so it’s little things like that. I always did my nails myself when I was young, so it’s hasn’t been difficult to adjust to.’
It comes after The Sun claimed that Kristina and Ben have been left with a crippling £1million debt.
While a friend of the couple told MailOnline: ‘The past six months have been hell for them and it has torn the love they had apart. For the sake of their family, they have chosen to go forward as separate individuals.
‘Those close to them who know them as a couple had hoped they would be able to work things out but for now it’s over and it looks like there’s no going back.’
The couple were left with crippling debts after they ploughed every penny they had into a yoga studio which plunged into crisis during the Covid pandemic.
The extent of their struggles were laid bare in unusual circumstances – during a court appearance last September when Kristina was caught driving without insurance.
Giving evidence during the case, England World Cup winning star Ben admitted he had bungled the handling of their car insurance policy and told how he was ‘fighting to save his relationship and home’.
Kristina gave a strong hint that the pair were having financial difficulties in November 2023, as she revealed the measures she’d undertaken to curb her spending during the cost-of-living crisis (seen in 2023)
In a tortuously frank admission he told the court: ‘I get up every day and I fight not to lose everything – to lose my cars and my house and my relationship. I’m so overdrawn.’
When questioned about the strains on his and Kristina’s relationship, he said: ‘We’re still living together. We’re in it financially.
‘We’re in business together so the problem is that we opened the business before Covid and we got the worst severities of it and in all honestly this is just another problem for me to deal with.
‘I’ve got credit cards that are overdrawn. I’m overdrawn in both accounts. We have got a business debt because of Covid. It’s just another problem.’
MailOnline was previously given an insight into their business struggles during an interview with the couple in May 2021.
They started Soo Yoga Group together in June 2017 – four years after falling for each other when they partnered on the 11th series of Strictly.
But Companies House records showed that company was £488,470 in the red in its last submitted set of accounts for the year ending on July 31, 2022.
The business was facing being struck off and Ben has since resigned as a director leaving Kristina as its sole director – while other companies linked to the couple were also in difficulties.
The couple were left with crippling debts after they ploughed every penny they had into a yoga studio which plunged into crisis during the Covid pandemic (pictured April)
It was not long before the couple had put their £1.75million five-bedroom home in Sywell, Northamptonshire, where they had lived since 2016 on the market.
Ben resorted to selling topless photos of himself in a bid to raise some much needed cash.
Ahead of the new year, he created a calendar with 1,000 personally signed editions selling at £32.95 a time in the hope of raking in £33,000.
Speaking to MailOnline in 2021, the couple revealed the irony of how they set off full of hope on a project to improve health and wellbeing only to be plunged into a crisis which left them facing losing everything and damaging their mental health.
Russian-born Kristina – who left Strictly in 2015 before giving birth to their daughter Mila the following year – had worked hard to retrain as a yoga instructor.
The studio offered dance, meditation and pilates classes while Ben taught high intensity training.
But they were forced to close the seven-studio yoga centre when the pandemic struck just nine months after opening.
Kristina told MailOnline: ‘The company is a new company we’d just set it up. We invested everything we’ve ever had.
They started Soo Yoga Group together in June 2017 – four years after falling for each other when they partnered on the 11th series of Strictly (seen on Strictly in 2013)
‘It was awful. I put everything into it and you don’t even have a chance to develop the business.
‘We opened in August after the first lockdown and had a huge spike. It’s a family orientated centre. Then November lockdown, December it was awful because we didn’t know the end of it. It was forever and ever and ever. Fingers crossed we can go back to normality soon.’
She spoke of struggles with depression which has ‘skyrocketed through the lockdowns’ and admitted they struggled.
At that point they were able to temporarily run outdoor classes on tennis courts in Northampton but told of their plans to expand the business into a nationwide venture – hoping to emulate the success of David Lloyd’s sports club empire.
Ben said: ‘Yes it’s great being outside and doing stuff but it shouldn’t be at that point – we haven’t earned a penny.’
He told how it was ‘tough to run a business’ but said of his hopes: ‘Essentially we want to do what David Lloyd did. Everyone thought he was crazy. David has been helping us with this too. We want to grow this across the country.’
The couple appeared to be back on track after getting engaged on a sun-kissed beach in the Maldives in 2022 and told of their hopes of tying the knot in Tuscany or Oxfordshire.
Ben told Hello! Magazine in 2023: ‘Over the last nine years we’ve been through the wringer. To support each other through difficult times in business is the ultimate test in a relationship.
Ben left his then-wife of 13 years, Abby, with whom he shares 15-year-old twins Harriette and Isabelle – for Kristina after meeting on Strictly and falling victim to the show’s infamous curse (pictured with Abby in 2014)
‘I’ve watched her flourish, from her becoming a mum to growing as a businesswoman, and it has strengthened our bond.’
But their ongoing struggles were revealed when Kristina, who worked on Strictly between 2008 and 2013, appeared at Northampton Crown Court to unsuccessfully appeal a sentence for driving without insurance.
Sobbing throughout the hearing, she told the court it would be financially devastating if she was disqualified.
She said she needed to drive to judge ballroom competitions across the country, which earn her around £2,000 a month, and to take Mila to school.
MailOnline later revealed the couple’s yoga company had plunged almost £500,000 in debt.
Ben left his then-wife of 13 years, Abby, with whom he shares 15-year-old twins Harriette and Isabelle – for Kristina after meeting on Strictly and falling victim to the show’s infamous curse.
He previously insisted nothing happened with Kristina during their partnership on the BBC dance competition, yet after their journey on the show came to an end he developed feelings so strong that he walked away from his marriage.
At the time Abby spoke publicly about her heartbreak, claiming Ben had ‘done the dirty’ on her and famously declaring: ‘My husband, who I was with for 23 years, unconditionally loved and was completely loyal to in every respect, has left me for a f**king Russian dancer.’
She told The Sun On Sunday at the time: ‘The last two years have been the most traumatic thing to ever happen to me. He’s done the dirty on me. I want people to know.
‘I don’t want to cause stress or further damage by stirring things up. But I’m just trying to recover from what has been the most horrific time of my life.’