Denise Van Outen shock! The Nineties man she’s back with
After decades of bitterness, two Nineties stars have ended their feud. In fact, they might return to The Big Breakfast for its birthday…
They were the ultimate on-screen partnership – with electric chemistry that won them millions of fans. He the motormouth presenter full of confidence and charm, and she the sassy Essex blonde, always quick with a comeback. But the golden duo of Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen, who made The BigBreakfast one of the must-watch shows of the Nineties, famously fell out – their once-close friendship descending into bitterness in a row about contracts and money.
An attempt to reunite as copresenters on Capital Radio in 2008 ended in disaster, and it seemed, for a while, that their onceclose bond was broken forever.
However, one good thing that has come out of the Covid crisis is that, during lockdown, they have became friends again
‘Johnny and I have had a bit of a rocky relationship over the years for various reasons and, funnily enough, we’ve messaged a lot in lockdown,’ said Denise, 47.
‘These situations make you reflect and realise some of the silly niggles and arguments you have are just not worth it.’
And the even more exciting news is that the duo are discussing joining forces to bring back The Big Breakfast. ‘ We’ve started having conversations. It would be nice to do something to mark the 30th anniversary.
‘It would be so much fun working with Johnny again on a show which means so much to us.’
It was back in 2017 that mumof-one Denise, who is now a regular on Celebrity Gogglebox along with fiancé Eddie Boxshall, confirmed the rumours about the feud which had been the subject of gossip for years.
‘I had a big fall-out with Johnny Vaughan, who I did Big Breakfast with and at that time we were like brother and sister,’ she explained.
‘ We were best friends, unbreakable. The whole relationship fell apart when we started to renegotiate our contracts because I always felt we worked together as a team and that’s how it should be.
‘But Johnny… was negotiating separately from me, which I found out and obviously confronted him.
‘I realised then at that point that our friendship had gone in two different directions and for me it was tarnished.’
However, she added: ‘I have seen him since and whenever I see him, because I love him so much and he makes me laugh so much more than anyone I have ever met, I just forget about it because we were really, really good friends.’
So let’s hope the pair finally put their differences aside and whisk us back to the Nineties for some nostalgia and on-screen magic…
‘He makes me laugh so much more than anyone I’ve ever met’