Stephen Tompkinson joined Lorraine Kelly on Friday to speak about being found not guilty of inflicting grievous bodily harm on a drunk man outside his home in May 2021.
In a cruel turn of events, just weeks later, Stephen's partner Jess Johnson lost her mum and her step-dad in a deadly traffic collision.
He said: "Frankly, my problems [faded in comparison] six weeks later when Jess’ parents [were involved in a deadly collision]."
Stephen explained Jess' parents were sitting in stationary traffic when a lorry who, it was later discovered, was "sexting on his phone on an adult dating hookup site" didn't see the traffic had stopped "ploughed into them at 56 miles an hour killing them instantly and the driver in front".
"We were both doing Educating Rita at the time and it had been stopped a couple of times because of Covid, two days [after the crash] Jess went, 'No, [let's carry on]'. She went into this incredible mode, I don't know how she did it. A few weeks later she attended the double funeral of her mum and her step-dad and was then back on stage that night.
"If you ever needed an example of strength and a shining light, she has been that throughout and looked after me through this and I've never be able to thank her enough."
Stephen was found not guilty last week after being accused of attacking a man outside his home.
He has now spoken out about the incident, as he told Lorraine: "It was about half five on a sunny morning at the end of May, a beautiful day and these two chaps turned up, one just in his underpants and socks.
"His friend who was also very dishevelled, incredibly unsteady. They were the definition of drunk and disorderly – several other people in the street had heard the commotion. They were swigging from a full sized bottle of Jagermeister, which you don’t find next to the Sherry or Port."
Stephen went on to say after asking the men to move on and letting them know he’d called the police "they turned a bit nasty and turned on me".
He explained: "I stopped one of them with my open palm from advancing any further. Because of the state he was in, he took a tumble and fell about eight feet away from me, smacked the back of his head and got a very serious brain injury. Not a joking matter, that had to be investigated."
The actor added he felt the incident could have been "investigated a lot sooner and dealt with there and then rather than wait two years" for it to be taken to court.
