Gareth Gates shares sweet picture of his daughter Missy, 17, as he praises her for passing her driving test

Gareth Gates has revealed his daughter Missy has passed her driving test, as he posted a gushing post praising her achievement on Thursday.

The former Pop Idol star, 42, shared a snap with his daughter while saying he was 'super proud' of her.

The post also included a photo of Missy proudly posing with her pass certificate.

He captioned the post: 'My beautiful (not so little) princess passed her driving test today. Well done @missygates_x Daddy is super proud of you.

'How do I have a daughter that's 17 and can drive?!'

Gareth was the runner-up to Will Young on the first series of Pop Idol in February 2002, shooting to fame as a fresh-faced teenager. 

The star split from Missy's mum in 2012 when she was just three, having been married for four years. A statement read: 'Despite our efforts over the past three years to make our marriage work, sadly Suzanne and I have decided to separate...

'Whilst we have grown apart, we love and cherish our wonderful daughter Missy and together we will prioritise her happy upbringing.'

Away from his wholesome posts, Gareth is currently touring with his unique new venture, musical roadshow Boyband In The Buff. 

Billed as a 'celebration of pop, passion, and pecs' with 'tight harmonies and tighter pants', Boyband In The Buff was launching a 58 date nationwide tour at the Felixstowe venue. 

He will tour the country for much of the year with Boyband In The Buff, a nostalgic celebration of pop classics from the 1990s and 2000s - primarily those made famous by Take That, NSYNC, Backstreet Boys and Blue. 

Earlier this year, Gareth's ex Katie Price said that he 'still looks fit' as she reflected on their TV reunion 24 years after he lost his virginity to the star when he was just 17.

The former glamour model, now 48, was 21 years old and six months pregnant with her son Harvey when she took the pop star's virginity.

Gareth denied the relationship but later conceded it was true assuming it was Katie who had sold the story to the press.

And 24 years on, Gareth (among some of her other exes) appeared in Katie's Sky documentary Katie Price: Nothing to Hide.

During press for the show, Katie was asked who surprised her most during the documentary - with the star saying it was Gareth as she said she even still fancies him.

Appearing on Hits Radio's Breakfast Show she said: 'Gareth Gates. Imagine you was with someone twenty five years ago and then suddenly they ghost you and you don’t really know why. And now I know why.

'People in his head and he thought I’d set something up when I actually hadn’t. Then twenty five years later and he finds out it was nothing to do with me and you see his reaction.

'I think people think it was just like a one night stand with me and him when it wasn't.'

Host Will Best chimed in: 'You can tell how much he cared about you, and I guess still does because he's relieved when he finds out.

'It's like he's been wrong for all this time, you'd think people might be like, "oh no damn it," but he's relieved. He's going to reframe you in his mind, and it's a positive thing.'

Katie continued: 'Put it this way, if I was his girlfriend watching what he said I wouldn’t be happy. Am I right or wrong?'

She then cheekily added: 'And he still looks fit I must say...'.

Previously at the official launch of the series, Katie revealed she was shocked upon learning Gareth would finally speak up after claiming he 'ghosted' her.

She told the crowd: 'Imagine meeting someone 25 years ago and then they sort of ghost you. You don't know why and then you go forward 25 years and then you get the answers.'

Explaining he thought it was Katie who had sold their story to the press, she continued: 'Because he had thought I'd done something which I didn't do and now, he finds out, it really wasn't me.

'The shock on his face and the shock on mine – everyone was like, "you and Gareth, that was the one that got away!".'

During an appearance on the Great Company podcast last month, host Jamie Laing asked Gareth if Katie did take his virginity.

He replied: 'No comment. I'll just say I was extremely inexperienced with a girl who was extremely experienced. I could see why she thought that.

'I haven't ever spoken about relationships. I believe that relationships are between two people and I couldn't believe that somebody else was selling stories about very, very intimate details.

'And I was shocked and I learned a lot about that - about people and about the industry, and about trust I guess. I would never have ever done that to her or to anybody else, and so it was a real learning curve for me.

'I felt exactly the same at the time. And it was a shame because she's a really lovely girl. But I couldn't quite believe somebody would do that I guess.

'I became sort of very wary of trusting people after that because that was such a big thing on such a massive, massive scale - it was everywhere.

'It became the main thing in every interview. Everybody just wanted to know about that and not about my brand new album which I'd worked tirelessly on.

'I was like, "That's a shame I'm now having to talk about this when actually I just want to be an artist." That was tough. It just kind of made me extremely wary of people in the industry I guess.

'You become very careful about what you text people, what you say to people. I was a boy at the time, I wasn't even an adult.'

Meanwhile Katie previously spoke about their romance back in 2024, when she confirmed: 'I took his virginity when I was six months pregnant.'

Speaking on the podcast Anything Goes with James English, the host shook his head as Katie then laughed: 'What? You're asking me. What you looking at, because I was pregnant?

'Just because I'm pregnant, don't say I can't have a boyfriend.'