Don't Tell Me I Can't...Be Friends With My Ex

Jacqueline Oliver, 54, and her best friend of 30 years, Mark Oliver, weren’t going to let their divorce ruin their enduring friendship

If there’s one person i know i can rely on when i’m in a jam, it’s Mark. He’s my best male friend and we’ve known each other for over 30 years – i’ve even worked alongside him in business. and did i mention that he’s my ex-husband? I remember the day I met Mark like it was yesterday. I’d walked into the gym after school and saw this dishy guy with long, curly hair (it was the ’80s!) and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him. We started chatting and I soon found out that he was a medical student at Wits University. We dated very briefly after that, but because I was 17 – a little too young for something so serious – things just didn’t work out.

A few years later, I bumped into Mark at an Iron Man race event while supporting a friend who was competing. Both of us are fitness fanatics and it wasn’t long before our next chance meeting at another triathlon event. As we were both a little older and wiser this time round, we decided to rekindle the romance between us and, by my 26th birthday, we were married.