Shona McGarty has reportedly split from her fiancé, David Bracken, just over a year after he popped the question in London’s Holland Park, Daily Mail reports.
The former EastEnders actress, Shona McGarty 34, and the Irish guitarist first met in 2023 after David messaged her on TikTok, asking if she’d like to duet on a song after watching one of her videos.
However, it’s now been claimed that the couple have mutually called off their engagement, but remain on good terms.
A source told The Sun: ‘They are on amicable terms, but have ended their romantic relationship
‘There are no hard feelings, they realised they wanted different things and are better off as friends. Shona is now focusing on her music and career.’
It comes after Shona McGarty, who portrayed legend Whitney Dean on the soap for over 16 years, admitted last year that she ‘had no idea’ David, who plays in an Irish band named Blessed, was going to propose.
The couple were enjoying a romantic picnic date at the time, which was also almost ruined when the police showed up.
Speaking with OK! last year, David explained how the police arrived to ‘close up the park’ and he had to ask them to give him ‘five minutes as he was going to propose’.
He said: ‘I went over to the police, who said, “Sorry, we are just closing up the park”. I said, “Would you mind giving me five minutes as I am about to propose to my partner?” He looked at his watch and said, “Of course, and best of luck.”
‘So, I told Shona to go stand at the waterfall in the park. I then put on our favourite song and had a dance with her before getting down on one knee.’
David had chosen a tranquil corner of the park called Kyoto Garden – somewhere that means a lot to Shona McGarty.
She added: ‘I love Japanese culture and the spirituality of it. He brought a picnic, which was really sweet. It was lovely, I was in my element, but I didn’t think he was going to propose at all.’
Shona McGarty also gushed that she knew David was ‘the one’ as the relationship felt ‘different’ to previous ones.
The pair also revealed to the publication that they had already started ‘looking at colour schemes’ and locations for their weddings.
Shona said at the time they were hoping to get married in 2025 and were thinking about a Christmas wedding.
She added that the nuptials would likely take place in Ireland, as they both have a lot of family there.
Giving an insight into their A-lister wedding guest list, Shona revealed the majority of the EastEnders cast would also be invited as they are ‘a big part of the couple’s journey’.
Shona ‘soft-launched’ her relationship with the Irish musician back in September 2023 as she shared a black-and-white photograph of their hands intertwined, with David’s displaying his distinctive tattoo.
The actress wrote: ‘I promise,’ along with a romantic John Lennon quote in the caption, which read: ‘Love is a promise, Love is a souvenir, once given, never forgotten, never let it disappear.’
Two days earlier, David had shared the same shot and penned: ‘A promise is a promise. Never to be broken. #happy #happyplace.’