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After splitting from her music executive ex, in 2022 Mel C described modern dating as offering “slim pickings”.
“What is it about Hinge?” she asked on the Not My Bagg with Joe & George Baggs podcast, confirming she was single. “There seem to be loads of hot girls, but all the hot guys are gay.”
Fast forward three years and the former Spice Girl has finally snagged one of those elusive hot guys – in the form of boyfriend Chris Dingwall.
Who is Mel C’s partner?
Chris, an Australian model, actor and filmmaker in his 40s, is believed to have crossed paths while Mel, 50, was undertaking her DJ tour in Australia in 2023 and early 2024.
Chris is originally from Sydney but travels extensively thanks to his work as a model signed to Ford Models and Chadwick.
Speculation he and Mel were dating began in May 2024, when Mel shared an Instagram post name-checking some lush hotels she’d stayed at in Australia during her tour, including the Calile Hotel in Brisbane and the Qualia resort in the Whitsundays.
While photos posted to social media showed her posing in swimwear solo, on the same day Chris shared an update to his own Instagram account name-checking the Calile and Qualia as places he’d stayed at too.
The duo were first spotted together publicly at the Glastonbury Festival in June that year, with photographs showing them walking hand-in-hand around the festival grounds.
A month later, things were official as they were together in public again, posing happily together for the cameras – this time for a day out at the tennis in Wimbledon.
While Mel is famously tight-lipped about her private life, she did share a carousel of photos from a romantic vacation with Chris in July 2025.
“A slice of paradise,” she captioned the snaps which showed her looking ripped in a tiny black bikini, and beaming at her man.
The photos led to an outpouring of love from friends and fans, who flocked to the comments section.
“Beautiful. Gorgeous to see you so happy and relaxed,” British broadcaster and journalist Kate Thornton wrote, while Australian TV personality Sonia Kruger commented, “That looks absolutely stunning!”
But while things appear to be going strong for the loved-up couple, it’s unlikely they will ever tie the knot.
Speaking with The Sunday Times in 2022, Mel revealed that she had never wanted to marry.
“I think being a successful woman makes things more complicated,” she told the publication.
“I’ve never, never wanted to marry. Maybe marriage works for some people, but maybe to think it works for the majority is an old-fashioned notion.”
Instead, Mel revealed that she’s “decided that life is a series of chapters”.
“I think that’s a good way to not have regrets,” she added.
Who is Mel C’s baby daddy?
While Mel has never married, she was in two serious relationships before she met Chris.
From 2002 to 2012, Mel was in a long-term relationship with property developer Thomas Starr. The pair first met during a holiday in Barbados and went on to welcome a daughter, Scarlett, in February 2009.
In 2012 Mel gave a rare insight into her relationship to Good Housekeeping.
“I’d like my house to be run with military precision, but unfortunately someone else lives there – a man!” she joked. “So he scuppers that. We’re probably a good combination, though, because he’s very spontaneous and I like to be organised.”
But just weeks after the interview was published, in July 2012, it was confirmed the couple had split.
In a later interview with BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, Mel opened up about how becoming a mother had “changed” her.
“She has made me braver,” Mel said of her daughter. “She has made me stand up for myself more.
“I make big decisions. Leaving her dad was hard but I wasn’t happy and she wasn’t happy, and it wasn’t the environment I wanted my child to grow up in.
“I couldn’t have done that without the strength that I got from her.”
A new chapter
In 2015, Mel started dating Joe Marshall, a man she would later appoint as her music executive and manager.
The pair lived together in North London, in a blended family with Scarlett and Joe’s two children.
In 2016, Mel told Closer that Joe was someone who “challenges me but respects and loves me”.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a relationship where someone has got my back,” she said.
The pair split amicably in August 2022, with a source telling The Sun: “Mel has an incredibly busy career between her book deal, DJ-ing and other plans. The little free time she does have is devoted to her daughter Scarlett, and that doesn’t leave much time for a relationship.”
The source added that Mel was “not afraid to be single if she thinks it’s for the best”.
Indeed, in a July 2025 interview with Sunday Life, Mel reflected on the wisdom that has come with age.
“When I turned 50 last year, I didn’t feel concerned about it too much,” the star told the publication. “And now, a year on, I’ve embraced all the positive things about getting older. The physical negatives of being this age are that you wake up with more aches in the morning, but having wisdom and feeling blessed to be alive is such a gift. I am focusing on that.”
