Amanda Holden speaks out on her 17-year age gap with ex Les Dennis

Amanda Holden has opened up about her marriage to Les Dennis, saying she found safety in a relationship with an older man.

The Britain’s Got Talent judge, 52, married TV presenter Les, 69, in 1995, when she was 23 and he was 40, after working together on a stage production of The Sound of Music.

However, five years later it emerged that the couple had split amid Amanda’s highly publicized affair with actor Neil Morrissey, 60.

The couple began their relationship when they worked together on the 2000 film Happy Birthday Shakespeare, with Amanda later admitting that their relationship was only about “sex.”

At the time, many speculated that it was the age difference between Amanda and Les that was causing their problems.

And while Amanda and Les later reconciled before finally breaking up in 2002, she insists she has no idea if he was looking for a father figure in the comic.

She said The times: ‘I don’t know because I’ve never done therapy, but there is a kind of security in a relationship like that.

“I was very young and had a lot to learn about life.”

Of her marriage and affair, she previously told the Daily Mail: “I asked for it, I appreciate it, but nothing will ever be that bad again.”

‘It was a very dark time. It got to the point where I felt like I could barely breathe.

‘Them turned out to be my savior. Ironically. So the person I hurt the most in the world was the one who was there for me.

It comes after Les Dennis took a playful jab at his ex-wife Amanda with a joke about her affair with Neil.

speaking in the Show and Tell with Christopher Biggins Earlier podcast, Les talked about when she used to star in pantomimes alongside the late American actor Mickey Rooney shortly after their divorce.

ex partner; The Britain’s Got Talent judge, 52, married TV presenter Les, 69, in 1995, when she was 23 and he was 40 (pictured in 2002)

Before each performance, the theater played Christmas songs, including Frank Sinatra’s famous hit Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

He told them, ‘Mickey would be very upset, because of course Frank Sinatra ran off with Ava Gardner (Mickey’s wife).

“It would have been like I had to listen to Bob The Builder every night.”

The joke was in reference to the fact that Neil was the voice of Bob on the children’s show for 14 years.

In 2013, Amanda opened up about her affair with Neil, telling him Good Housekeeping: ‘I don’t think women have affairs for no reason.

‘Neil, rightly or wrongly, got a lot of sticks. I feel like it was my fault, I was the one who was married.

“I want to change the general perception of him as he was very loving and very caring and he was very worried about me because I lost a lot of weight.” He used to cook for me, take care of me and take care of the dogs.

In 2014, Neil finally apologized to game show host Les for the affair he had with his then-wife, Amanda.

Separation: It emerged that the couple had split amid Amanda’s highly publicized affair with actor Neil Morrissey, 60 (Amanda and Neil pictured in 2003)

The star, who previously said she had not apologized to Les, admitted as much on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories.

He said: ‘I’m sorry about how the situation was handled and I’m sorry about how emotional Les seemed to get. It was very difficult for him and for that I am very sorry.

His comment came after Piers asked him if he had ever apologized to Les, to which he replied: ‘No, I haven’t. I’m not sure why there are apologies. I don’t know what the whole situation was, to be perfectly fair to everyone.

When asked why he had never talked about it before, the father-of-one shared: ‘I think enough has been said about it. This was a very short adventure. I had no representation at the time, in terms of PR and this was the first time I was really under the cosh’.

Honest: While Amanda and Les reconciled before finally breaking up in 2002, she insists she has no idea if she was looking for a father figure in the funny man since she hasn’t done therapy (pictured last month)