Rumours began to surface about a month ago regarding Russel Tovey’s social media behaviour, suggesting that he and rugby player boyfriend Steve Brockman had split. But Tovey has since confirmed that the pair are no longer an item.

In a recent post to his Instagram, a fan quizzed whether the two were still dating, to which Tovey replied: “no darling.” (The original post appears here).

Well, this isn’t the usual ‘blunt’ we look forward to, but with an inflection like that, we’re dying to know the details. Was Russel’s fame too much for Steve? Was Steve’s porn past too much for Russel?

Tovey had been dating Brockman – who plays for the King’s Cross Steelers – for a number of months, before it broke that Brockman had previously done porn. Although Tovey assured the media that they’d spoken about it, and he was well-informed of his partner’s amateur past.

HMM…