Looking back to the start of their relationship, Amanda Holden said when she first met ex-husband Les Dennis, she felt he was in need of “mothering.” Amanda Detailed their contrasting personalities in her autobiography ‘No Holding Back’.
The Britain’s Got Talent judge said: “At first he thought I was loud, overconfident and a bit brash, which was probably true,” and added: “I thought he was a bit of a miserable sod.”
Nevertheless, Amanda had nurturing sentiments towards the comedian, who was some 16 years her senior. She wrote: “He seemed sad, quiet and troubled and I instinctively wanted to help.” Their paths crossed backstage at Bournemouth’s Pavilion Theatre during a run of The Sound of Music.
Engaging in social activities with fellow cast members, they’d often hit the bowling alleys on days off, which led to Amanda and Les, who is from Garston, striking up increasingly frequent conversations. Les confided in his younger castmate about the break-up of his first marriage to Lynne – who he had married just three years after Amanda’s birth – expressing regret over the infrequent contact with his son Philip, reports the Mirror.
Amanda, who turned 54 today, Sunday, February 16, reflected on how the former couple were platonic friends for some time. She said: “I don’t think I consciously fancied him at this stage.” However, by 1995, a couple of years after their initial meeting, they tied the knot, marking a new chapter together.
However, the union was not to last; they parted ways five years later amid revelations of Amanda’s affair with Neil Morrissey, her co-star in Happy Birthday Shakespeare. In 2002, Les opted to tackle public interest in the separation directly by signing up for the second series of Celebrity Big Brother.
However, he later said this was “not one of his wisest moves”. Following the revelation of the affair, Amanda told the Daily Mail that the intense media scrutiny surrounding the breakdown of her marriage marked the “worst time of her life”.
She said: “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.” The mum-of-two admitted that she “hated” herself for lying to Les, but they were unable to salvage their relationship and finally divorced in 2003.