Dickens met Ellen Ternan in 1857, when she was only 18 years old and he was 45. Ternan was a stage actress, and Dickens was immediately smitten with her. They began a secret affair, which lasted for several years.
Dickens and Ternan were very much in love, and they planned to marry after Dickens divorced his wife, Catherine. However, Dickens' wife refused to grant him a divorce, and so he and Ternan were never able to be together openly.
In 1865, Dickens and Ternan had a child together, a son named Charles. Dickens was overjoyed to be a father again, and he doted on his son. However, his wife found out about the child, and she was furious. She threatened to expose the affair to the public, and Dickens was forced to break up with Ternan.
Dickens and Ternan never saw each other again after 1865. Dickens died in 1870, and Ternan lived until 1914. She never married, and she never had any other children.