Ant Middleton’s wife says ‘fame went to his head’ and SAS Who Dares Wins almost ruined their marriage before he was axed
ANT Middleton's wife Emilie said fame went to her husband's head when SAS: Who Dares Wins took off and almost ruined their marriage.
The ex Special Forces man was recently axed by bosses after they clashed over his "personal conduct".
He went from being an unknown former soldier to a household name in 2015 when the tough reality show launched on Channel 4.
Writing in Ant's book Zero Negativity - which came out in September last year, Emilie told how life in the limelight affected their family.
The mother-of-five said the dramatic change in circumstances ";turned family life upside down."
She wrote: "Then almost overnight we went from an existence where nobody knew anything about my husband and how he was spending his time, to realising that millions of people thought they knew everything about him. I’d meet people on the street and they would talk to me like they knew him. For a year, maybe more, I struggled to adjust to it.
"When you’re married to someone famous you understand very quickly that the days of you being able to control every element of your life is over. We were all caught by surprise by the impact SAS: Who Dares Wins had on us. There wasn’t any part of us that thought the show would become what it has. In our heads it would be a one off show watched by ten people. Instead it exploded."
Emilie feared losing her man after he became consumed by the countless messages from fans, to who he is a massive inspiration.
"He’d be there, in the same room as his family, tapping on his phone, oblivious to us because he was sending messages to this or that fan," she said. "He was with us but at the same time he wasn’t really there. It went to his head and stuff teetered a bit for us.
"That’s not a shock. If I had thousands of strangers sending me messages on Instagram telling me how great I was, I bet my head would swell up too. Who wouldn’t float up in that bubble? Anyone who says it wouldn’t affect them is lying. I spent a lot of time bringing him back to earth, mostly by nagging him."
Eventually her efforts paid off and Ant realised the fanfare and celebrity world wasn't "real life".
We recently revealed how Ant allegedly told a female contestant he was going to have sex with her while working on Who Dares Wins - something he strongly denies.
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His comment, apparently meant in jest, was said to have been picked up by the show’s microphones.
And it allegedly prompted a member of the production team to go to bosses and raise a complaint.
The Sun understands that as many as four women raised formal concerns about Middleton’s alleged conduct on set.