Piers Morgan once went through a “horrendous” divorce from his first wife.
Though the TalkTV presenter might be all cosied up with his current wife Celia Walden – with the pair regularly posting adorable snaps together on social media – it took a world of heartache to get there.
Piers was previously married to Marion Shalloe, with whom he welcomed first-born son Spencer in 1993 – just a year before Piers became the youngest ever editor at News of the World, aged 29.
Marion was a nurse – a far cry from Piers’ showbiz circle – but was certainly used to being in that world.
In 1994, the pair separated, with Piers confirming to the Telegraph that it had nothing to do with the pressure of his job or interference from a third party.
(Image: Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)
He said at the time: “She’s a ward sister in a hospital. She helps save people’s lives, and like all nurses, she’ll hate me saying that.”
But the pair soon reunited, and welcomed a second son, Stanley, in 1997.
Marion soon fell pregnant with their third child, Albert, in 2000. But it wasn’t long before her marriage to Piers began to fall apart, after an exchange of emails between Piers and The Sun columnist Marina Hyde.
Marina was sacked from the paper by editor David Yelland, who claimed to have boxes of “explosive” – and, it’s widely reported, amorous – emails which could “destroy” Piers.
Though rumours of Piers’ romance with Hyde swirled, he has never publicly commented on them.
(Image: Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)
Instead, he told the Press Gazette at the time of Yelland: “They delighted in embarrassing me and in being quite destructive to a friend, and to my personal life.
“I think of Yelland sitting there with his operatives, salivating over them [the e-mails] and it makes me quite sick.”
That was Marion’s cue to move on with another showbiz journalist – News of the World showbiz editor Rav Singh – who Piers dubbed a “very nice guy”, insisting the pair got on well.
His divorce from Marion was sealed in 2008, with Piers telling the Daily Mail it was a “pretty horrendous experience”.
(Image: Alan Davidson/REX/Shutterstock)
He added: “The day Marion and I got divorced, I said, ‘You know what? We can both go away feeling awful about this, but let’s never mention it again’”.
Piers also insists he doesn’t regret his first marriage, as he “produced three fantastic children” with Marion.
And it’s clear the two still get on, as Piers mentioned Marion while swiping at his former GMB co-star and “on-screen wife” Susanna Reid.
Clearly unhappy with how Susanna reacted to his explosive on-set storm off, Piers wrote in his MailOnline column: “At 6.30am, I turned on GMB to see what my ‘TV wife’ Susanna would say about our sudden divorce.
“Stony-faced, she read a short, rather frosty statement: Piers and I have disagreed on many things and that dynamic was one of the things viewers loved about the programme…”
(Image: Getty Images)
It went on: “Jeez, even my real ex-wife talks more fondly about me than that (and, in fact, did so overnight in a very supportive message)”.
He also said of his ex: “As someone who’s been through a divorce myself and who has never said a bad word in public about my ex, and never will.
“Partly out of respect for her – we’ve remained good friends, and she’s never dissed me in public either – and partly because I never want our three sons to hear me talk badly about their mother.”
Piers, of course, later moved on with current wife Celia, tying the knot in 2010 and going on to welcome his first daughter, Elise, in 2011.
For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletter by clicking here.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
