The actress and Britain's Got Talent judge Amanda Holden has said that her former husband, comedian Les Dennis, proved to be her saviour during her previously turbulent personal life. And she said that, ironically, the person she said she had hurt the most in the world was the one who had been there for her.
She also explained why she had married a man 17 years her senior, saying she had found a kind of safety in a relationship with an older man. The 52-year-old television and radio personality married Dennis, now aged 69, in 1995, when she was 23 years old and he was 40, having met during a theatre production of The Sound of Music.
The marriage lasted five years, and it later emerged the reason for their split was her affair with actor Neil Morrissey, 60, something that became a much publicised hot topic in the national newspapers. It apparently all began when they co-starred in Happy Birthday Shakespeare, a film made in 2000, also featuring Dennis. Holden admitted in later interviews that the relationship with Morrisey had been just about "sex".
A recent article in MailOnline stated that the speculation at the time was that it may have been the age gap that had caused the breakdown in the marriage. Holden herself said she did not know if she had married Dennis simply because she had been looking for a father figure in him.
The couple did reconcile briefly but finally separated in 2002. She told The Times: "I was very young and I had a lot to learn about life." In a previous article in the Daily Mail about her marriage and affair, she confessed: "I brought it on myself. I appreciate that. But nothing will ever be as bad again. It was a very dark time. It got to the point where I felt I could hardly breathe.
"Les proved to be my saviour. Ironically. So the person I’d hurt the most in the world was the one who was there for me."
In a recent podcast, Dennis made a playful reference to his former wife, telling Christopher Biggins in an interview of a time he performed in a Christmas show with the late Mickey Rooney shortly after the American actor's divorce. The show, which ran for a number of performances, always opened with festive songs including one by Frank Sinatra — the man who ran off with Rooney's wife, Ava Gardner.
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Dennis joked: "That would've been like me having to listen to Bob The Builder every night" - Morrisey was the voice of Bob on the children's show.
Ten years ago, Holden spoke of her affair in Good Housekeeping magazine, saying: "I don't believe women have affairs for no reason. Neil rightly or wrongly got loads of stick. I feel like it was my fault. I was the one who was married."
But she added: "I want to change the general perception of him, as he was very caring and very loving." A year later, Morrissey finally apologised to Dennis on a programme fronted by the broadcaster and former BGT judge Piers Morgan.
He said: "I feel sorry for how the situation was dealt with and I feel sorry for how emotional Les seemed to become. It was very difficult for him and for that I'm very sorry."
He added: "This was a very short fling. I didn't have representation at the time, in terms of PR, and this was the first time I'd really come under the cosh."
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