Lydia Bright and James Argent's relationship may have ended years ago, but the pair still want the best for each other.

According to a source, Lydia is "incredibly proud" of the way Arg has taken a handle on his health and lost weight over the past year.

The TOWIE star, 34, has lost a staggering 13 stone since undergoing weight loss surgery last April.

A source exclusively told OK!: "Lydia and Arg have grown really close since his weight loss surgery and she is incredibly proud of him.

"Arg has never truly stopped loving Lydia and would deep down would probably love nothing more for them to give things another go."

Along with Mark Wright and his then girlfriend Lauren Goodger, the pair were something of a power couple in the early days of The Only Way Is Essex, but went their separate ways in 2016.

However, the've remained firm friends and publicly supportive of each other – even posing for photos with each other on social media.

Arg has also shown he is fond of Lydia's daughter, Loretta, whom she shares with ex Lee Cronin.

Reports in recent weeks suggested the pair were back together, but Arg has since shut those claims down.

Arg went as far to admit that he finds it "frustrating" when girls won't approach him following his weight loss transformation because they believe he is back together with Lydia.

"We want to be in each other's lives forever. She's one of my closest friends. We care about each other and respect each other, but we think anything else than staying friends would jeopardise that," Arg explained.

He added to The Mirror: "I want to be able to see Lydia when I'm not having a good day as she's somebody I turn to for help, but we can't do that at the minute because we get pictured, and everyone says, "they're back together'.

"I have girls who think 'aren't you with Lydia?'. So they don't bother with me. It's frustrating."

As well as labelling Lydia his close friend, James also explained that he also feels free to turn to Lydia's mother Debbie for advice.

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