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Amanda Holden credits 'Britain's Got Talent' for 'liberating' her after Neil Morrissey affair controversy

Amanda Holden has credited Britain's Got Talent for liberating her (Photo by Keith Mayhew/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Amanda Holden has credited Britain's Got Talent for liberating her (Photo by Keith Mayhew/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Amanda Holden has credited Britain’s Got Talent for “liberating” her from the attention around her private life.

In 2000, Holden hit the headlines when her affair with actor with Neil Morrissey was exposed. She later went on to divorce her husband at the time, Les Denis.

As a result, Holden recalled how she felt her image had been effected.

Read more: Amanda Holden set to sing on 'Britain's Got Talent' after landing record deal

However, when she joined the Britain’s Got Talent judging panel in 2007 alongside Piers Morgan and Simon Cowell, people’s perception of the star started to change.

Ahead of Britain’s Got Talent: The Champions, Holden explained how BGT allowed the public to see a different side to her that they may have not seen before.

“Starting out on Britain’s Got Talent was liberating for me,” the Mirror reported her saying.

“I mean, without dragging up my past, I think, at the time I was with Chris, we’d been together for something like five years but people still kept going on about Les and Neil, and all the other stuff.

“So what was really nice was that anyone that might’ve had a preconceived idea of me could see who I really was and then really make their mind up.”

Amanda Holden returns to the BGT panel for the new series of Britain's Got Talent: The Champions (Photo by ITV)
Amanda Holden returns to the BGT panel for the new series of Britain's Got Talent: The Champions (Photo by ITV)

“So, if they didn’t like me after, that’s totally fine as well. But I think I was able to make a wider audience understand that I probably wasn’t as bad as I’d been portrayed, or as naughty as I’d been portrayed,” she continued.

"I am naughty, I stand by that, but in a good way! I think it’s important that everyone has a sense of humour in these difficult times.”

Read more: Amanda Holden doesn't let her age dictate what she wears on 'Britain's Got Talent'

The actress also recalled how she was lucky to join BGT due to her role in ITV’s Wild At Heart at the time.

“It’s very surreal because I was lucky. Simon picked me because I was in a very well-known drama at the time that was doing well. So I was lucky that I was in Wild At Heart and he knew me.

“My career as an actress has essentially been put on hold, because BGT has been the biggest thing in my life.”