Entertainment

Denise Welch confirms split from husband Tim after 23 years

Denise Welch has revealed that her marriage to Tim Healy has ended.

The 53-year-old actress made the announcement about her 23 year-long marriage live on Loose Women, saying that it had ended "some time ago".

The Celebrity Big Brother winner has been dogged with rumours of affairs since she won the Channel 5 reality show.

It had been claimed that she was having a secret affair with 39-year-old party organiser Lincoln Townley.

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However, Welch denied this and revealed that she and Healy had been living separate lives for some time.

On the verge of tears, Welch broke the news, saying:

"Tim and I separated some time ago and so I'm not having an affair, we've been living our own lives for some time now.

"But the press furore, if that's the word, after I came out of Celebrity Big Brother naively took us by storm but there has been nothing in the papers that my family didn't know about.

"We've actually become better friends since we made the decision but we wanted to have Christmas with the family without telling anybody... I'm not having an affair, I am officially separated."