[Amy]

CELEBRITY Big Brother lovebirds Chantelle and Preston's marriage has been rocked by a series of rows.

The couple, who wed last August, have "come close to breaking point" following a string of arguments over the last three months, according to a close friend.

Chantelle has walked out on her husband three times but has always returned.

"It's very sad, but Preston and Chantelle have been in a very bad way," the friend said.

"The inner circle do not see them staying together if things carry on the same. They still love each other massively and keep trying to make it work. But things have been stormy."

TV viewers were delighted when popstar Preston, 25, fell for dizzy Essex blonde Chantelle Houghton, 23, on the Channel 4 reality show in January last year.

Just seven months later the couple tied the knot in Mayfair, London. The bride walked down the aisle in a dress designed by Elizabeth Emmanuel - the woman behind Princess Diana's wedding gown back in 1981.

The newlyweds later celebrated their big day with a reception at the swish Chesterfield hotel, where guests were served fish and chips before the couple jetted off to Morocco for their honeymoon.

The big day - funded by a £300,000 magazine deal - was the first time Preston's Frenchbased mum Miranda had met Chantelle.

Last night the friend told how cracks began to show just months afterwards: "The first really big bust-up came in February," the friend said.

More problems began to emerge when the Ordinary Boys frontman and his wife began planning to buy their first joint home.

The couple, who have pocketed more than £1million each since taking part in the show, had been living in the Brighton bachelor pad Preston previously shared with former fiancee Camille.

Then two months ago they moved into a four-storey town-house nearby, and planned a fresh start for the marriage.

But the friend said: "It was really hard for Chantelle to give up her close family in Essex and live in Brighton where her only companions are Preston and his friends.

Another source of tension has been their work - or rather Chantelle's lack of it. The Essex girl went into the Celebrity Big Brother house as the show's first ever non-celebrity, but won her chance to stay after convincing the other housemates she was a singer in fake girl band Kandyfloss.

She enjoyed overnight success and was tipped for big things.

She pocketed £25,000 in prize money for winning the show as well as £280,000 for magazine deals, her own E4 TV series Living the Dream and a deal to write her autobiography, Living the Dream: My Story.

But one year on, Chantelle is finding herself in far less demand.

The friend said: "Everyone wants them to work it out because when things are good they make a brilliant couple.

"They are trying to make the marriage a success."

Last night Preston insisted: "My marriage is in great shape."

Sunday Mirror