Ricki Lake Says She’s Found ‘A Brilliant New Love’ Two Years After Husband’s Tragic Death

Ricki Lake will mark a sad milestone next week, but she is finding the light after one of the darkest days in her life. The actress and talk show queen says she has finally found happiness again after the sudden death of her husband Christian Evans, according to People. Lake told reporters at Fox’s Television Critics Association panel that she has “found love again” nearly two years after her husband took his own life.

“My husband, who passed from mental illness and suicide, it’ll be two years on Feb. 11,” Lake said of her husband’s 2017 death. “And I just recently found a brilliant new love.”

Ricki Lake has been dating One Golden Thread founder Jeff Scult for three-and-a-half months after meeting him through a mutual friend. Lake told People Scult is making her “really happy.”

Shortly before she met Scult last fall, Lake told People TV that she didn’t think she would ever find a love like what she had with Evans again. Ricki said she shared a “true love” with her late husband and admitted that while she was “open” to finding love again she didn’t think it would ever happen.

“I had true, unconditional love so I’d like to have something along those lines again,” Lake told People. “But I feel like lightning doesn’t strike twice.”

Ricki Lake married Christian Evans in Aril 2012. But three years later, the former Ricki Lake Show star filed for divorce, although the couple attempted to continue their relationship. In an emotional Instagram message to fans in February 2017, Lake revealed that Evans, who had been battling bipolar disorder, had taken his own life. Lake described Evans as her “soulmate” in the post about his suicide death.

But Ricki Lake’s recent Instagram photo with her boyfriend Jeff Scult shows that the star has once again found happiness. The actress and her new man are pictured laughing while at a restaurant in the photo, which you can see below.

In December, both Lake and Scult posted a photo ahead of their appearance together on the e-commerce platform Talk Shop Live. Ricki Lake described Jeff Scult as “amazing” in the caption to the photo, which shows them holding hands and smiling.

Just before meeting Jeff Scult last year, Ricki Lake filmed episodes of the Fox singing competition The Masked Singer. After being unmasked as the Raven this week, the star revealed that her costume and many of her clues represented the loss of her husband Christian Evans. Although she suffered from sciatica during filming and was in a lot of pain, Ricki Lake described her experience on The Masked Singer as “cathartic.”

You can see Ricki Lake talking about how performing on The Masked Singer helped her cope with the loss of her husband in the video below.

The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 9 p.n. on Fox.

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