Amanda Holden has revealed how her role on Britain’s Got Talent helped her put the most difficult period of her private life behind her, admitting it “liberated” her from the way she had been portrayed following the breakdown of her first marriage. The actress and TV judge, then 48, explained in 2019 that joining the talent contest in 2007 allowed viewers to see her true personality after her split from Les Dennis had dominated headlines.

Holden married comedian Dennis in 1995, but the relationship hit the spotlight in 2000 after her affair with actor Neil Morrissey. The pair briefly reconciled but separated again in 2002 before divorcing the following year. At the time, Holden admitted she struggled with how she was perceived. “Starting out on Britain’s Got Talent was liberating for me,” she said. “I was with Chris, my husband, we’d been together for something like five years. But people were still going on about Les Dennis and Neil Morrissey, and all the other stuff.”

She added that the show gave her a platform to be judged on her own merits. “Anyone that might’ve had a preconceived idea of me could see who I really was and then really make their mind up. So if they didn’t like me after, that’s totally fine as well.”

“But I think I was able to make a wider audience understand that I probably wasn’t as bad as I’d been portrayed, or as naughty as I’d been portrayed. I am naughty, I stand by that, but in a good way.”

Holden credited Simon Cowell with giving her the opportunity, after he spotted her success in the ITV drama Wild At Heart. From there, her acting career gave way to television presenting.

“My career as an actress has essentially been put on hold because BGT has been the biggest thing in my life,” she explained. “I’ve gone down a road where I’ve been able to use my personality.”

The move also marked a turning point in her personal life. By the time she joined the judging panel, Holden was in a committed relationship with music producer Chris Hughes, whom she later married in 2008. Together, the couple endured profound heartache – including a miscarriage in 2010 and the stillbirth of their son Theo in 2011 – before welcoming their youngest daughter Hollie in 2012. Their first daughter Lexi was born in 2006.

Holden and Hughes have now been married for 16 years, but their relationship has not been without its challenges. In more recent interviews, the star has described her husband as someone who “hates the limelight” and avoids public appearances.

She joked that she has to “force” him to appear in her Instagram posts just twice a year “to prove he exists”.

Despite their differences, Holden insists their marriage “does still feel fresh,” though she admits they often “lead separate lives” due to their busy careers, reports The Independent.

Hughes, who has worked with Paul McCartney, Robert Plant and Tears for Fears, keeps a low profile compared to his wife’s high-profile broadcasting schedule.

Holden also revealed that disagreements sometimes arise over their family home, a £7million property in Surrey which she bought without Hughes’s input. “All the decisions about the house are mine. He hates it and argues with me all the time and then says I was right,” she laughed.