Ant McPartlin leaves rehab and divorce out of book with no mention ex-wife Lisa

Ant McPartlin skimmed over the personal issues that nearly wrecked his TV career in his new book.

Ant and Dec, both 44, have released their new tome Once Upon A Tyne to celebrate their 30 years of working together.

However, fans hoping for explosive revelations about the difficult year when Ant went to rehab and stepped out of the spotlight are likely to disappointed.

Ant's personal problems are left out of the book, with no mention of his struggle with alcohol, his drink-driving accident or the breakdown of his marriage to Lisa Armstrong.

His marital problems and addiction issues are summed up when talking about making their documentary Ant & Dec's DNA Journey.

Ant wrote: "It... turned out to be the best way for us to talk about the events of the last few years, with the problems I'd had and the break I took from television...

"I'd gone through rehab and a divorce and Dec had become a dad for the first time."

Dec then goes on to explain how Ant's year off affected him and how their partnership had lost its lustre, before they "came to the conclusion we wanted to keep working together".

Ant's mention of his divorce is the only time the subject of his 12-year marriage is brought up and Lisa is not mentioned once.

However, his dog Hurley was included - in an anecdote about Britain's Got Talent when the pooch weed on the stage, and in a picture.

Ant and former pop star Lisa were married for more than a decade before the relationship broke down at the height of his drink and drug troubles.

He was convicted of drink-driving in 2018, and went through two stints in rehab.

In August that year, Ant confirmed he was taking a year off from TV - leaving Dec to host the remainder of their show Saturday Night Takeaway alone.

More On

Ant McPartlinBritain's Got TalentDocumentariesDivorceDrink-driving