Martin Clunes has spoken out about his 'rotten' first marriage multiple times over the years.
The 60-year-old actor, who was back on screens last night playing Doc Martin, wed his first wife Lucy Aston in 1990.
The couple's marriage lasted only three years after one final insult drove the pair apart during a dramatic bust up in a restaurant.
Martin and Lucy's marriage went well for their first year together, but cracks appeared when the actor began landing starring roles while his wife continued working in a health food shop.
The two met when they were both 'party animals', but their passionate sex life dwindled and Lucy stayed at home studying to become a crisis counsellor, writes the Mirror.
Lucy said her husband thought she had become "dull and boring" - and it all came to a head when Martin went to a party alone and claimed he had "forgotten" to invite her.
This caused a row while they were out at their favourite Chinese restaurant the following evening and Lucy said he shouted: "You are an embarrassment."
At that instant, despite still loving him, Lucy finally accepted there was no going back and that their marriage was over after three short years.
In April 1997, she told The Mirror: "He told me I was boring and different and I just thought: 'No more.' I stood up and said 'thanks for dinner - this is the end' and stormed out. I sat in the car shaking with rage.
"Later I went back and Martin was sitting there, surrounded by take- away cartons filled with our meal. He just looked at me. I took off my gold wedding ring, slammed it on the table and walked out. We both knew it was over.
"I was furious when I found out he had gone to a party without telling me. Worse than that, he had said he was going out with just a couple of male actor friends.
"He tried to make out he had told me, but the truth is he just didn't want me there. The sad thing is I had become an embarrassment to him."
Lucy went out for a drive on her own and when she came back to their North London flat she realised there was no way to pick up the pieces.
They talked calmly about their future, agreed it was best to part and vowed to stay friends.
"We just looked at each other and said 'Bye, then'," explained Lucy.
After the split Lucy went to America for ten weeks an by the time she returned Martin was going out with TV producer Philippa Braithwaite.
"It was a bombshell when he told me he was with Philippa," said Lucy.
Yet it was she who finally asked for the divorce.
She felt it was time to put the past behind her and move on.
"I didn't want to be Lucy Clunes any more, I wanted to be Lucy Aston again."
Martin and Lucy divorced in 1997 and he married Philippa later that year, while Lucy was pregnant and in a new relationship when the divorce came through.
At the time, Martin has given his own explanation of why the marriage failed, stating: "We had a problem enjoying each other but now I can enjoy Lucy again.
"We are friends and can appreciate each other."
However, in September 2008 he stated their marriage was 'rotten' in a scathing interview in the Mail's Weekend magazine.
Speaking about how he found Philippa, he said: "I don't know if I was searching for anything.
"Maybe I was. I kind of found it without looking. When I met Philippa I was coming out of a rotten marriage, and was very resistant to the idea of getting involved again."
This did not go down well with Lucy, who hit back by telling the Mail: "I want Martin to stop telling everyone what a failure it was and what an awful time he had. In truth, I was the one who had a terrible time."
She added: "I'll always love Martin, but he needs to take responsibility for the collapse of our marriage instead of constantly dismissing it so scathingly in public."
Martin and Philippa tied the knot in 1997 with a small ceremony and an afterparty at The Savoy hotel in London - where Martin's acting pal Neil Morrissey was best man.
They went on to have daughter Emily in 1998 and have now left London for a calmer life on their farm in Dorset.
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