Martin Clunes’ ‘rotten’ split from first wife and his scathing final insult
Martin Clunes, who is back on our screens on Doc Martin tonight, called his ex-wife an ’embarrassment’ at the showdown dinner which became the final nail into their marriage
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Denise Van Outen completely forgets about attending Martin Clunes’ wedding 20 years ago
Martin Clunes has often spoken about the failure of his first marriage – and brutally described it as “rotten”.
The Men Behaving Badly actor, who is back on our screens tonight in Doc Martin tonight, married Lucy Aston in 1990.
However, just three years later their marriage was over after a scathing insult drove the final nail into the coffin of their marriage during a dramatic showdown in a restaurant.
They had a magical first year together as husband and wife, but cracks started to appear when Martin was landing starring roles while Lucy was working in a health food shop.
When they first met they were both ‘party animals’, but their once passionate sex life dwindled and she stayed at home studying to become a crisis counsellor.
Lucy said her husband thought she had become “dull and boring” – and it all came to a head when Martin went to a party alone and claimed he had “forgotten” to invite her.
Image:
( Daily Mirror)
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This caused a row while they were out at their favourite Chinese restaurant the following evening and Lucy said he shouted: “You are an embarrassment.”
At that instant, despite still loving him, Lucy finally accepted there was no going back and that their marriage was over after three short years. In April 1997, she told The Mirror: “He told me I was boring and different and I just thought: ‘No more.’ I stood up and said ‘thanks for dinner – this is the end’ and stormed out. I sat in the car shaking with rage. “Later I went back and Martin was sitting there, surrounded by take- away cartons filled with our meal. He just looked at me. I took off my gold wedding ring, slammed it on the table and walked out. We both knew it was over. “I was furious when I found out he had gone to a party without telling me. Worse than that, he had said he was going out with just a couple of male actor friends. “He tried to make out he had told me, but the truth is he just didn’t want me there. The sad thing is I had become an embarrassment to him.”
Lucy went out for a drive on her own and when she came back to their North London flat she realised there was no way to pick up the pieces.
Image:
( Daily Mirror)
Martin Clunes and his second wife Philippa Braithwaite
Image:
( Press Association)
They talked calmly about their future, agreed it was best to part and vowed to stay friends.
“We just looked at each other and said ‘Bye, then’,” explained Lucy.
After the split Lucy went to America for ten weeks an by the time she returned Martin was going out with TV producer Philippa Braithwaite.
“It was a bombshell when he told me he was with Philippa,” said Lucy. Yet it was she who finally asked for the divorce. She felt it was time to put the past behind her and move on. “I didn’t want to be Lucy Clunes any more, I wanted to be Lucy Aston again.”
Martin and Lucy divorced in 1997 and he married Philippa later that year, while Lucy was pregnant and in a new relationship when the divorce came through.
At the time, Martin has given his own explanation of why the marriage failed. stating: “We had a problem enjoying each other but now I can enjoy Lucy again. We are friends and can appreciate each other.”
Martin is back on Doc Martin tonight
However, in September 2008 he stated their marriage was ‘rotten’ in a scathing interview in the Mail’s Weekend magazine
Speaking about how he found Philippa, he said: “I don’t know if I was searching for anything.
“Maybe I was. I kind of found it without looking. When I met Philippa I was coming out of a rotten marriage, and was very resistant to the idea of getting involved again.”
This did not go down well with Lucy, who hit back by telling the Mail: “I want Martin to stop telling everyone what a failure it was and what an awful time he had. In truth, I was the one who had a terrible time.”
She added: “I’ll always love Martin, but he needs to take responsibility for the collapse of our marriage instead of constantly dismissing it so scathingly in public.”
Martin and Philippa tied the knot in 1997 with a small ceremony and an afterparty at The Savoy hotel in London – where Martin’s acting pal Neil Morrissey was best man.
They went on to have daughter Emily in 1998 and have now left London for a calmer life on their farm in Dorset.
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