By Alanah Eriksen


It's over: Andrea McLean had announced she is divorcing builder Steve Toms after two years of marriage


Loose Women star Andrea McLean has announced the end of her second marriage after just two years.

The 42-year-old wed Steve Toms in August 2009, after having an affair with the builder six years earlier, cheating on her first husband, Nick Green.

In a tearful interview, the mother-of-two told of her heartbreak as the relationship broke down.


'We held it together over Christmas for the kids but then on Boxing Day I took them to stay with my parents – and that was the end,' she told the Daily Mirror.

'I’m still in shock. When I hear myself talking about "my first marriage breakdown" then "this time round," the words are like a stab in the heart. Because I simply can’t believe

I’m in this position again. People think I’m Snow White... the most boring person in the world! I’ve only ever slept with two men and I married them both.
'I’ve always been choosy and never played the field but now here I am… a single mum with two children by two different husbands and two failed marriages behind me.

She added: 'I feel I have let my children down. They don’t deserve this.

'I just wanted to give them what I had – a happy, loving home with a mum and dad who adored each other. And all I’ve ever wanted is to be one half of a couple. But now that’s all gone. I’m heartbroken.'

She said she and Steve had simply 'grown apart' despite trying hard to make it work.

Andrea split with her first husband, BBC producer and her childhood sweetheart Nick Green, after an affair with Steve in 2003, after just three years of marriage.

The pair had met when Steve was a builder on UKTV home makeover show called Our House, which Andrea hosted, and their affair made national headlines.

'My first marriage was already dying by the time I met Steve but I am still so ashamed of what I did then because I caused pain to people I loved and betrayed my husband in the worst way that a wife can,' she told the paper.

'I hated myself for a long time because of that. Then, six years later when Steve and I finally got married, I went into it with a heart full of love and hope – determined this would be different.

'But as time went by and I realised I couldn’t make this marriage work either I felt utter panic. I feel completely destroyed by it all.'

Andrea has a 10-year-old son, Finlay, with Nick, and a daughter Amy, five, with Steve.

Happier times: Andrea and Steve with their daughter Amy, now five, and the presenter's son Finlay, now 10, from her first marriage

Andrea said she kept her marriage problems a secret from her Loose Women co-stars, but Sherrie Hewson knew something was wrong.

'I think my fellow Loose Women realised something was going on. But because they are so lovely no one probed.

'But one day Sherrie came into my dressing room and steered the conversation round to ­relationships. She was talking about herself, but we both knew she was talking about me. She’d just got divorced after years in an unhappy marriage.

The first time round: The Loose Women star with her first husband Nick Green

'She said "You’re young, ­beautiful and a lovely person and you deserve to be happy – so if you’re not happy about anything in your life, please don’t wait like I did".'

'I really thought about what she said. It ­reinforced what I knew deep down. I had to move on.'

The avid tweeter gave no hint to her 61,000 followers that her marriage was in trouble.

She wrote happily: 'Merry Christmas everyone! Loving the Heat worst pressie strand. Fave so far plastic jug from Tesco and octopus in garlic sauce, ha ha!

'Been nibbling all day and feel a tiny bit sick now. FYI chocolate and bacon don't go well together...

'The 10 yr old has a Dr Who voice distorter and the 5 yr old is cross because no one wants to bake with her and the turkey is 'in the way'.

And she joked over the new year: 'New Year diet going swimmingly. Full fry up for breakfast, bacon buttie for lunch followed by ten spoons of choc spread.'

Andrea talks about the split in her autobiography, Confessions of a Good Girl, which is published next Thursday.



source:dailymail