Charlie Penna: 'My divorce party was one of the best things I've done'

I think that throwing a divorce party is a really positive thing to do as it's turning something that you would normally cry about into something to celebrate. Photo / Facebook, Charlie Penna

After getting divorced in July 2014 I decided to throw a divorce party. I wanted to celebrate what had happened as, although it had been horrible, I wanted to use the experience to create an inner strength instead of spending the time crying my eyes out.

I met Lee in my local pub in Cornwall in 2006 and we got married in Truro in 2012 when I was 24. It was a small wedding as we didn't want to spend an extortionate amount of money on one day.

However, after five months of marriage I found out that he was having an affair, which he denied, and he left me. I filed for divorce but it was complicated, and it took nearly two years as a result of our short marriage.

Throughout that time there were moments when I would just sit down and grieve for the relationship that I once had. So I soon resolved that I could either wallow about it and cry or improve my life and get something positive out of it.

A friend of mine had recently suggested that we should have a hot tub party which I thought was a great idea and I decided to turn that into a divorce party.

I hired a hot tub from a company in Plymouth, bought prosecco and invited 10 of my friends over, asking them to also bring a bottle. The weather was terrible but luckily we had a gazebo so we still had a good time: the girls all dressed up and I wore an 'Aint no wifey' t-shirt.

Afterwards we went on to a local restaurant which had arranged a personal menu for me called 'Happy Divorce Party Charlie', and I also had 'Just Divorced' balloons. We then went to our local pub, where Lee and I had met, and danced to a divorce playlist which included songs like Ironic by Alanis Morissette.

I know now that this was still the right thing to have done. As a result of hiring the hot tub I have become a partner in the business and have started my own franchise, Miss Tubs, in Cornwall, which would never have happened if it weren't for my divorce, or the party.

On the year anniversary of my divorce being finalised I decided that rather than dwelling on how long it had been I would instead throw another hot tub party. I loved it so much that I now have hot tub parties all of the time with my friends.

I think that throwing a divorce party is a really positive thing to do as it's turning something that you would normally cry about into something to celebrate. If someone has done something horrible to you, like Lee cheating on me, then you are better off without them so you should move on.

Interview by Rachel Matthews