Anthea Turner has said she ‘was cancelled before we even had the word’, after embarking on an affair with ex-husband Grant Bovey, while they were both married.
The television presenter, 65, had been married to Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell for eight years, when she left him in 1998 for his friend and property developer Grant.
While Grant left his wife Della and their three daughters, who were aged two, four, and six at the time, to be with Anthea – causing her to be labelled a ‘homewrecker’.
Reflecting on that chapter of her life in a new interview, Anthea described it as ‘a difficult time’ and admitted she feared that her career was over as she was shut out of all opportunities.
‘I was “cancelled” before we even had the word,’ she told The Mirror. ‘When I went through a difficult time, yes, I was absolutely pushed aside – over, done, I couldn’t get arrested.’
She explained that once the scandal had eventually died down and she ‘walked forward again into the sunshine’, she found the TV industry had changed.
Anthea Turner has said she ‘was cancelled before we even had the word’, after embarking on an affair with ex-husband Grant Bovey, while they were both married
The television presenter, 65, had been married to Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell for eight years, when she left him in 1998 for his friend and property developer Grant (seen together in 2008)
‘If you weren’t a gardener, a cook, an interior designer or an expert on history or wildlife, you were stuffed,’ Anthea recalled. ‘I remember thinking, “Oh my goodness me, that’s probably me done.”‘
She and Grant were together for 15 years, going on to tie the knot in 2000, before splitting in 2012 when she discovered he had been having an affair with interior designer Zoe de Mallet Morgan.
While they briefly reconciled, the pair separated for good in 2013 when Anthea discovered he had continued seeing Zoe – who was 24 years old at the time and 26 years Grant’s junior – and they were divorced in 2015.
But the Celebrity Big Brother star said that looking back, she was glad that the marriage ended, as it gifted her ’emotional and professional freedom’.
Anthea said: ‘After my divorce I met myself again. The me I am now in my sixties is much closer to the one I was in my thirties, only now I have the golden ticket of experience.
‘I did everything I could to keep my marriage to Grant together, but had I stayed in it I wouldn’t be the woman I am now with the freedom I have emotionally and professionally.’
She insisted that she is ‘on good terms’ with both her ex-husbands, saying: ‘There’s absolutely no bitterness. Grant and I had some great years, Peter and I had some great years.’
Previously reflecting on the backlash she received over her affair with Grant, Anthea told the Telegraph: ‘I owned up to it, because when people split up and say, “There’s nobody else involved,” you know damn well there is.
‘I asked a solicitor friend to put out a statement because otherwise they were going to go poking around and something was going to get found out.’
She confessed: ‘I look back on it all now, it was a series of unfortunate events.’
But despite his infidelity, the former Blue Peter star has insisted she does not regret marrying Grant.
She and Grant were together for 15 years, going on to tie the knot in 2000, before splitting in 2012 when she discovered he had been having an affair with interior designer Zoe de Mallet Morgan – aged 24 at the time (seen with Grant in 2013)
She still remains close with Grant’s children, Amelia, Lily and Claudia, declaring last year that ‘nothing changed’ in their relationship after the divorce (seen with Lily in 2019)
‘I can understand why some people think I got my comeuppance when my relationship then went on to deteriorate in the way it did,’ she said. ‘But I loved Grant and I can’t regret the 15 years we had together. There were some very happy times.’
She added to the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden in 2023: ‘I’m a glass is half-full kind of woman and I always think of all the good things that came of our marriage.
‘People who walk around with a big bag of regrets, recriminations, they never move forward properly. I move on, I’m not a natural dweller, and I think it is a female sense of survival.’
Anthea previously revealed that she wrote a letter to Grant, pleading with him to understand how the menopause was responsible for her behaviour in their marriage, not knowing he was already cheating on her with a 24-year-old.
She said her work commitments made it hard to have a proper conversation with her ex, so she tried to put down the changes she was experiencing on paper.
She still remains close with Grant’s children, Amelia, Lily and Claudia, declaring last year that ‘nothing changed’ in their relationship after the divorce.
‘They’ve been in my life since they were two, five, and six,’ she told OK. ‘When their father, my ex-husband Grant, and I split up, I must admit, I thought, “Oh gosh…” because you just don’t know what will happen when a relationship ends.
‘But with the girls and me, nothing changed. Claudia actually lived with me for some time, after flat-sharing with friends.
‘It’s a wonderful relationship – especially considering it’s not an umbilical cord one. Nobody’s forcing us, we’re in each other’s lives because we truly like each other.’
While she has also become a grandmother, after Claudia and Lily both welcomed baby boys, proudly declaring: ‘I’m Granny Anth! I couldn’t be happier.’
Fast forward to present day, Anthea has found love again with millionaire businessman Mark Armstrong, with the couple getting engaged in 2019 during a romantic trip to Italy.
Fast forward to present day, Anthea has found love again with millionaire businessman Mark Armstrong, with the couple getting engaged in 2019 during a romantic trip to Italy (seen last year)
She recently gushed that she’s been ‘given a second chance at love’ and said that despite her divorces she still feels positive about marriage, with her and Mark planning to wed this year, after delaying due to Covid and the death of his mum.
However, she has insisted that she will be opting for a smaller ceremony this time round, following her infamous ‘Flake Gate’ wedding to Grant.
Anthea and Grant’s lavish 2000 nuptials sparked backlash after the couple posed while eating Cadbury’s Flake chocolate bars in a promotional tie-in.
They were reportedly paid £450,000 for the embarrassing photos, which were roundly criticised and mocked by fans.
Reflecting on the extravagant day 26 years later, Anthea admitted it was ‘nowhere near what I wanted’ and opined that big ‘flash’ weddings are falling out of fashion.
During an appearance on Vanessa Feltz’s Channel 5 show in February, she said: ‘It was so extravagant. Really when I think back now, I do remember thinking: “This is not me, I don’t really want it to be so big. This was nowhere near what I wanted.”
‘But I sort of got bamboozled into the whole thing, and it got bigger and bigger and bigger, and then of course, a chocolate bar was stuffed in my face, and then that was the end of everything.’
