'I was thrilled to announce my engagement - 24 hours later a stranger's DM ended it'

A woman called off her engagement just 24 hours after announcing it to hundreds of thousands of people after she received a gut-wrenching message.

Michelle Elman, 31, had just excitedly told her 270,000 Instagram followers that she was engaged to the man she thought was the love of her life. The body confidence coach and author beamed alongside her then-fiancé in a picture posted to her account, revealing her partner for the first time.

In a caption posted under the photo, she said: “I told you I’d never post my boyfriend…MEET MY FIANCE.” Michelle, who also serves as This Morning's relationship expert, didn't stay engaged for long, however, and cut ties with the man, named Ben, when she was informed he was a serial cheater - by a fan.

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Speaking on her podcast In All Honesty, Michelle said that, while her ex was telling her she was the "centre of my universe", he was cheating behind her back with multiple women. She broke the engagement within a day of announcing the happy news after receiving a message from a woman saying she had slept with her fiancé.

The woman claimed he had said he was single and cheated on her after booking a hotel on his return from a holiday in Milan, Italy, and that she had a booking confirmation to prove it. As if that wasn't enough, he had also slept with another woman in Paris the month before their engagement, whom he had messaged the day he took Michelle shopping for her ring.

Michelle said: "My world came crashing down in less than 24 hours. I’ve never been able to tell the proposal story because it was one of the best days and it’s sad to not be able to look back on it and have that happiness now. It is so tinged with sadness." Ben eventually admitted to being unfaithful "by the end of the day" of Michelle confronting him.

She continued: “In total, he’d cheated on me with three women. Many more if you count all of the messages on dating apps, but he’d gone on dates and slept with three. He admitted to the third one by the end of the day.

Once she learned of the betrayal, she told how she remembers "breaking down" and sobbing while speaking to a friend. She said: One of my friends who was in the house at the time said there was this animalistic cry throughout the house and she was so scared by it that she didn’t come up to check what was happening. It sounded like an animal wailing through the house."

Since the heartbreaking discovery, Michelle said she learned how strong she is, and impresses herself "each day". She said: "There’s something quite amazing about waking up each morning and being proud of yourself, and impressing yourself each day."