Amanda Holden says Britain’s Got Talent freed her from ‘cheating wife’ label after her affair with Neil Morrissey
AMANDA Holden has revealed that Britain's Got Talent liberated her from the "cheating wife" label she got from her headline-hitting personal life.
The actress couldn't shake her tarnished image after her affair with Neil Morrissey in 2000 and her resulting split from her first husband Les Dennis in 2001.
But when Simon Cowell gave her a place on the BGT judging panel in 2007 - the show changed people's perceptions of her.
"Starting out on Britain’s Got Talent was liberating for me," she told the .
"I mean, without dragging up my past, I think, at the time I was with Chris, we’d been together for something like five years but people still kept going on about Les and Neil, and all the other stuff."
The 48-year-old actress is now married to music executive Chris Hughes but 12 years ago she relished the chance to reinvent herself.
"So what was really nice was that anyone that might’ve had a preconceived idea of me could see who I really was and then really make their mind up," she said.
"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!"
Amanda will be joined by Simon Cowell, David Walliams and Alesha Dixon to judge a long list of acts in the revamped series Britain's Got Talent: The Champions.
Speaking ahead of the series premiere, Simon said: “I love the idea that we could do something which is different.
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“Having done the American show, it's a very different kind of competition between an international act entering your main show and then representing their country on Champions. There is a very different mindset.”
Amanda added: “This show is the cream of talent from around the world. So there's nothing stupid, there's nothing to criticise, there's nothing that needs particularly any direction.
Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions starts 8pm this Saturday on ITV.
Follow all the action from episode one of Britain's Got Talent: The Champions on our live blog
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