Amanda Holden admitted that she made a ‘mistake’ as she opened up about life after she cheated on husband Les Dennis.
Holden, 52, and Dennis, 70, got hitched in 1995, after meeting on a stage show production of The Sound of Music.
They tied the knot when he was 40 and she was 23, but their relationship was rocked in 2000 after news broke that Holden had had an affair with Neil Morrissey - something she later admitted she 'regretted'.
After initially splitting for a short time, the pair decided to give it another go - during which time they appeared on Richard and Judy, where Dennis and Holden put on a united front and insisted they were ‘happy’.
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Holden said: “I have a wonderful career, I have no reason to stay in the marriage that I’m in, unless I’m happy.”
Opening up about the affair, she said: “This isn’t an excuse, but we’ve been together for nine years - I met Les when I was 22 - and I think that… and I’d always been very good.
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“I’d been in a relationship previously for five years, I had gone to college, done my A Levels, been the ‘very good’ elder sister and daughter of the family. And never made a single mistake, and I think that, I just made a mistake.”
When asked when she realised she’d made a mistake, she added: “It wasn’t actually to with a particular person, it was to do with me - and me wondering whether I was with the right person for the rest of my life.
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“Asking myself all kinds of life questions. I was also coming up to the age of thirty, which is a massive shock to any woman. It was never to do with the person, it was absolutely to do with me and questions I was asking about my life as a whole.”
The reunion was short-lived, they split up for good in 2002 and divorced the following year.
However, Dennis said earlier this year that he has no hard feelings towards his ex-wife and is ‘happy she is happy’.
Speaking to The Times back in June, he said: "Amanda was in the papers recently, saying some nice things about me. That was very kind of her.
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"Maybe with time she has been able to look back and see things differently. We’re not in touch but I am happy that she’s happy."
He went on: "I can watch Britain's Got Talent without getting angry. To be honest it’s like watching a different person, someone I’ve never met.
"All the hurt that has happened has been healed."
Topics: Amanda Holden, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships, Britains Got Talent, TV and Film
Claire Reid