Ronan Keating's affair with backing dancer Francine Cornell has been going on for seven months, the Sunday Mirror has claimed. 

The Boyzone star is said to be 'besotted' with Francine and was even considering leaving his wife Yvonne for the dancer after the pair met on tour, according to the newspaper. Francine, 26, ended her relationship with long-term boyfriend Nick Robbins in October after she was bombarded by text messages sent by Keating, the Sunday Mirror reports. 

Nick's father Royston told the newspaper that his son encouraged Miss Cornell to go on tour with Ronan, but complained about the flood of text messages soon after. 'The last time I saw her [Francine] was at a birthday dinner,' Royston told the Sunday Mirror. I remember thinking something didn't seem right with Francine. Nick had remarked to me and his brother Andrew that she was working with Ronan Keating and that she always seemed to be receiving text messages from him. He didn't seem to be jealous about it, he just thought there were rather a lot of them. The next thing I heard was that she had told him that she wanted to end things.' 

Following his split with wife Yvonne, Ronan Keating has vowed to win back his heartbroken wife. A report in the News Of The World claims the star confided in a friend after performing on stage in Zurich yesterday. According to the newspaper, the 33-year-old said: 'I'm devastated. Performing on stage at this moment was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I know what I did was wrong. I feel terrible about what this has done to Yvonne. But I'm not prepared to give up on my marriage. I've cancelled everything for the next three weeks and I'm going to come back to Dublin to try and make this work.'

Ronan's alleged affair with a dancer on tour was revealed when his wife found texts from her on his secret mobile phone. And while Yvonne is determined to end her marriage, the Boyzone star has visited the family priest to ask for forgiveness and is desperate to win her back. His wife of 12 years, Yvonne discovered the second phone and decided to go through the messages.

There she found intimate correspondence between her husband and 26-year-old Francine Cornell. A source said: 'There were some quite suggestive texts that left little to the imagination. Yvonne went ballistic and told him it was over there and then." Rather than deny the affair or try to explain the texts, the 33-year-old Boyzone star admitted he had cheated. There was no point in denying it,' said the source. 'He broke down in tears and admitted everything.'

Yvonne, 36, has now reportedly thrown the singer out of the family home and pictured yesterday without her wedding ring, she appears to be serious about ending the relationship. When she arrived at the couple's new home yesterday - which is still in construction - an onlooker said: 'She looked pale and tired, but resigned. And she had obviously planned her appearance carefully because her wedding ring had been very pointedly removed,' they added. This was the former model's first public appearance since the Keatings' announced their separation on Thursday.

Eyes hidden behind a pair of dark glasses, Yvonne surveyed the property - which is just down the road from the couple's existing home outside of Dublin - perhaps in a bid to lay claim on it. The mother-of-three is said to be devastated over the shock revelations of her husband's behaviour. According to sources, he and Cornell's blossoming friendship was the 'talk of the tour'.

The pair met on Boyzone's tour in May and June 2009. 'Ronan and the girl were certainly very close,' one source said. And while the singer's infidelity is sure to have shocked fans, one former colleague said the singer is simply getting an overdue 'comeuppance'. "Throughout his career he has always cast himself in an angelic light. But the truth has been far murkier,' they said. 'As far as Ronan's concerned the only person that matters is Ronan. This is the first time he has been caught out with another woman but there has been talk about his private life for years. Women have always thrown themselves at him.' They added: 'Now you have to wonder whether he always resisted their charms.'

Last night Keating moved out of the family home he shared with his childhood sweetheart.Dressed casually in a pair of designer jeans and a jumper, the singer looked drained as he headed to his car. The star dared to give one last backward glance at the house before his driver pulled out of the driveway for the last time. Yvonne, spent yesterday being comforted by Keith Duffy’s wife Lisa and a neighbour over a cup of tea inside her home. Friends have been left reeling since news of their split emerged just before lunchtime yesterday. In a statement yesterday, the couple said their split had been ‘amicable.’ And the couple remained together in the house for most of the day as they shielded their family from the media glare surrounding their split.

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