BASILDON'S Denise Van Outen has said she is starting to feel good again after having a little "downtime" following her split from Lee Mead.

The TV presenter and radio host, 39, told Hello! magazine that she and her ex are on good terms and even spent Christmas Day together, with their three-year-old daughter Betsy.

The former couple booked a room in a pub in Kent where they had lunch.

Mail Online quoted Denise telling the magazine: "We're very amicable, so [spending the day together] doesn't feel weird to us.

"Eventually that will change when we have partners, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it. But I would like to think I could invite Lee and his new girlfriend for a sherry."

The star, who has finished co-writing her one-woman play, Some Girl I Used To Know, said 2013 had been hard.

She told Hello!: "I've needed to be on my own, to be honest. I needed to get my play together and I think anyone who has come out of a long relationship would say the same."

But she added: "You need a bit of downtime and get yourself into a good place where you feel alright again. And I'm getting there."