Amanda Holden admitted there was "a sort of safety" in her marriage to Les Dennis.
Amanda Holden was 17 years younger than Les Dennis
The 'Britain's Got Talent' judge was just 23 when she married the 'Family Fortunes' presenter, who is 17 years her senior, and though she doesn't know if she was actively seeking a father figure in her relationship, she can understand why there was an appeal in marrying a much older man.
Asked if she was looking for a father figure, Amanda - whose affair with Neil Morrissey caused her and Les to split after eight years of marriage - told The Times newspaper: “I don’t know because I’ve never done therapy, but there is a sort of safety in a relationship like that.
“I was very young and I had a lot to learn about life.”
The former 'Cutting It' actress will always be grateful to have been offered a job judging 'Britain's Got Talent' when the show launched in 2008 because it allowed people to see who she really was.
She said: “When I started on BGT people still remembered the divorce.
“But also people thought I was this posh girl when really I am from an estate. My parents talk liike thaat, yet people thought I was up myself, when really I am very down to earth.
"In fact I am too honest and open. I tell the truth to my own detriment.”
While the 52-year-old star - who has two daughters with husband Chris Hughes - has faced criticism for her raunchy outfits, she insisted she has no desire to stop "flaunting [her] bits" any time soon.
She said: "I was born in 1971 and my grandmother Ethel – a real woman warrior whom I worshipped — was 50 then. But she was from a generation who were told they should stop dyeing their hair and just fade into the background.
"Well, I’m from a generation of women who won’t do that — we’ll flaunt our bits for as long as we can. I am certainly going to — even when they’re drooping down to the floor, I’ll scoop them up again.”
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