GMB's Richard Madeley has been honest about his past affairs while he was married to first wife Lynda Hooley, before he met wife Judy Finnigan, now aged 74. Richard has been a household name for decades after originally being one of the faces of ITV's This Morning back in the 80s and 90s.
He, of course, appeared alongside Judy Finnigan, and the pair have now been married for 35 years. Richard and Judy are one of the strongest couples in showbiz and are still going strong.
And while they have always been known for their secure and stable relationship, things have now always been so rosy for the couple romantically, the Daily Record reports. They were both previously married and Richard, 66, has been honest about his past affairs while he was married to first wife Lynda Hooley, before he met Judy.
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Speaking about how many women he bedded during the six-year union, Richard previously told the Mirror: "Oh lots, numerous, probably in the space of about five years, about 10.
"Although the marriage had some very happy moments, there was a lot of negativity in it. I'm not using that as an excuse. It's wrong to have affairs, but I was a very young man."
Judy, 74, first clapped eyes on Richard when he joined her at Granada as a news presenter. Recalling their first meeting, Judy said: "I remember the first time I saw him. He walked into the newsroom and I was sitting at my desk at the other end", reports The Echo.
"I remember exactly what he was wearing: a pale blue linen suit. I thought he looked nice. Tall, handsome and all that but I thought the suit was a bit flash. Then, because he was a newbie, I was assigned the job of looking after him."
Their first exchange has gone down in history as Richard has shared: "I was sitting at my desk when this hand appeared on my shoulder and I looked up at this face and Judy said, 'Hi, I'm your Mummy' and I thought 'Whaaaaat?'"
Explaining the joke, he continued: "At Granada when someone new arrived, someone was appointed as their dad or their mum to show them round – the canteen, the toilets and all that. So Judy was my 'mum'."
It's been said that many of their colleagues were aware of their growing attraction as the pair grew close, but at the time Judy was still married to journalist David Henshaw, while Richard was in the process of splitting from Lynda.
Soon an affair began over a meal together as they couldn't keep away from each other, but both have insisted it was much more than a "sordid office affair". Richard has previously said: "[Colleagues at Granada] thought it was frivolous but it wasn't anything of the kind.
"It was actually very painful because we were very much in love but it was very difficult."
Judy has previously explained things got serious quite quick, but she had reservations because of her six-year-old twins Dan and Tom.
She said: "I had to be absolutely convinced that Richard was mature enough and sure enough of his own mind that my boys weren't going to be hurt. When we first got together I remember my mother said to him, 'If you hurt those boys I'll never forgive you'."
After putting a stop to the romance, Richard headed off to Greece for two weeks, armed with a bag of step-parenting books, according to the Mirror.
He said: "I knew Dan and Tom really well and they were smashing, they were terribly sweet, so I took it very seriously. In the end I knew of course that I could do it, I wanted to do it".
After a year Judy decided she wanted to be with Richard and things were rosy for a while but soon they faced tragedy together as they lost a child when Judy suffered a miscarriage. Richard opened up about the heartbreaking loss in Channel 4 documentary Child of Mine, where he explained they went for a routine scan at 16 weeks and found out the devastating news.
He recalled: "It was utterly devastating: no warning; no earlier, gentle, indication of the possibility of catastrophe. Our baby had just died. And he was still in Judy's womb.
"She was kept in hospital overnight for a second scan, just to make absolutely sure, and was then put into an induced labour. My heart broke for her as I waited outside the delivery room. What a dreadful experience: to go through the motions of childbirth, knowing what the grim outcome would be."
In 1986 Richard and Judy welcomed Jack, now 36, and then, just as she was about to return from maternity leave, she found out she was expecting Chloe, 35. In 1988 the couple took up a job on a show that would change their lives forever, This Morning.
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