Ronan Keating with new girlfriend Storm Uechtritz in Surry Hills. Picture: Reginato Anthony Source: Supplied
SINGER Ronan Keating has found love again - this time in the arms of an Australian blonde he met on the set of The X Factor.
Six months after announcing his marriage of 14 years was over, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal the Irish crooner is dating 31-year-old Sydney TV producer Storm Uechtritz.
The couple were both married when they met while Uechtritz was working as a producer on The X Factor last year before announcing the end of their marriages in April.
Industry speculation has been rife about a budding romance between the duo since Uechtritz - niece of former ABC boss Max - quit Seven's TV talent quest for rival Nine show The Voice early this year.
Keating, 35, finally confirmed the relationship after they were spotted out in Surry Hills together last week.
"Storm and I have been friends for some time and that has recently evolved into something more serious," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "We are both really happy."
It is understood Uechtritz is now job hunting in the UK and is expected to return to Britain with Keating when The X Factor wraps in November.
The former Boyzone frontman and wife Yvonne, 38 - who have three children, Jack, 13, Marie, 11 and Ali, 7, - split last year before officially announcing they were divorced in April.
Keating took full responsibility for the breakdown of the marriage, saying "I got what I deserved" after his wife caught him having an affair with 27-year-old dancer Francine Cornell.
Uechtritz, who bears a striking resemblance to both Keating's ex-wife and Cornell, told friends in April her marriage was over because she and her husband had "grown apart".
She married Sydney financial director Tim Ivers in a beachside ceremony on Queensland's Magnetic Island in August 2009.
They had been together since meeting at university in Brisbane and shared their first dance together to Keating's hit song, You Say It Best.
Friends said Ivers was "a lovely guy" whose separation had come as a huge shock.
"Tim and Storm came to a friend's wedding together in Queensland in April and told everyone they were splitting up," one friend said.
