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Amanda Holden: Affair with Neil Morrissey turned the public against me

Actress says dealing with the backlash after her fling was tough

Les Dennis and Amanda Holden divorced in 2003

Amanda Holden has finally spoken out about her affair with Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey.

The Britain's Got Talent judge, who was then married to Les Dennis, says she had a tough time accepting the way the public turned on her.

‘The backlash over my affair with Neil Morrissey was the worst thing that ever happened to me,’ she says. ‘Up to that point I'd never been in any major trouble and I found the fall from grace incredibly hard to deal with.

‘I can't bear not to be liked. I had an affair and overnight turned into this awful person.’

Amanda, 37, and Les, 54, separated in December 2002 after 7 years of marriage.

‘Looking back, I can see that when I married Les not everybody believed I loved him and that it was not going to last because he's 16 years older than me,’ she tells Woman And Home. ‘They were waiting for something to happen.’

Amanda – who is set to marry music producer fiancé Chris Hughes, the father of her daughter Lexie, 2 – reckons Neil, 45, got off lightly for his part.

‘Les has always been a bit of a national treasure and Neil had that whole Men Behaving Badly image,’ she adds. ‘It was perfect headline material but a horrendous thing to go through. There are no hard feelings with Les. I wish him the best but we've both moved on.’