I’m divorcing Paul for my own self-respect, says Hollywood’s wife
PAUL Hollywood’s wife has revealed she had to end their marriage for her own ‘self-respect’ after he started a relationship with a barmaid 29 years his junior.
Alex Hollywood, 54, said it was ‘hard to stay married these days’ because modern couples do not treat the union with as much sanctity as their parents’ generation.
The cookery writer, whose recipes feature in today’s Weekend magazine, revealed that she stood by her husband after his first affair for the sake of their teenage son.
But in her first newspaper interview since the breakdown of her marriage to the Bake Off judge, she admitted his second affair – with a local barmaid – was too much to forgive.
Speaking to Weekend magazine’s Jenny Johnston, she said: ‘That one was different. It happened again and it was a done deal, my marriage was over. From the minute I knew, it was over. It is over. There is nothing.’
Hollywood began dating Summer Monteys-Fullam, who was 23 at the time, after meeting her in the pub where he was planning a birthday party for his wife.
Soon enough, she said, their entire village knew about his indiscretion. ‘Everyone knows me. They all knew Paul. It’s a small community. Everyone knows what went on,’ she said.
Within weeks of their relationship coming to light, Hollywood and his young girlfriend were spotted on a romantic holiday together.
‘It’s such a big thing to comprehend, to end a marriage,’ Mrs Hollywood said. ‘But I had to do the right thing, and to have self-respect as well...
‘Any marriage is about respect and loyalty and friendship. Also selfrespect, and I respect myself.’
They married in 1998, but in 2013 he had an affair with Marcela Valladolid, 34, his TV co-star on the US version of Bake Off. Mrs Hollywood said she stayed with her husband for the sake of their son Josh, and because she ‘believed I was doing the right thing’. ‘I think everybody’s entitled to one mistake,’ she said.
She said she has since started making bread because she finds it ‘therapeutic’, but admits she ‘never really needed to’ before last year.
‘I think it’s so hard to stay married these days,’ she added. ‘Everything is so moveable, so transient. People don’t take things... well, they think of marriage in a different way than they did in my parents’ time.
‘I just think it’s sad, because there’s an awful lot more to marriage than just two people hooking up because they like each other. It’s about friendship.’
But she said that despite the public humiliation of her husband’s relationship with his much younger girlfriend, she refused to blame herself.
‘Look, I did everything I felt I could,’ she said. ‘What you’ve got to hold on to is the reality, which is that the affair is not about the person who is not having the affair – it’s about the one who is.’
She added: ‘A lot of people go through divorce and it’s horrible. Splitting up is awful. But you can survive it, you can get through. You can start saying, “I’m still here. I’m me. I have a life. I’m 54. Life’s not over yet”.’