Ellie Goulding: My ex is 'special'

The 'Army' hitmaker has praised her former boyfriend - who she has also lovingly dubbed her "best friend" - and is incredibly proud of his success.

She said: "Dougie is a really special person. He's one of the most special people in the world and I'm so happy for him he's doing so well in LA and he's still one of my best friends and I know he feels the same.

"I think for me and anyone else going through the same thing as me it's really important to get to know yourself and like yourself and the only way you can do that is spend time with yourself. The last few weeks have been stage as I've been alone a lot but it's healthy, It's still very fresh but at the moment, but I'm very happy with being alone."

But for now, whilst she gets over the heartbreak, the 29-year-old singer admits she is glad to be back out on the road.

She added to the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I'm not in a relationship any more so that has been hard. Everyone knows breaking up with someone is a terrible thing and it's really hard and it's complicated. It's never going to be easy and I can't think of any of my friends who have been through a break up and said it was alright so it has been hard and I'm just grateful that I'm incompletely preoccupied with my tour and getting to see my fans.

"I think if I wasn't on the tour it would be a great deal harder as you know when you're by yourself you overthink things and wallow. I'm trying to keep my mind off it by watching and reading things."