Prue Leith has opened up about how her first marriage began.
The Great British Bake Off judge first revealed in her memoir Relish: My Life on a Plate, which was published in 2012, that her first marriage to writer Rayne Kruger began as an affair.
Now, the 83-year-old has been spilling further details about her previous love life.
Speaking to host Kate Thornton on the White Wine Question Time podcast, Prue was asked why she decided to reveal the candid truth in her book at the time.
“I thought, ‘You know, to skip it when Rayne was the most important person in my life… how could I not tell his whole story?’ So I did,” she responded.
Prue had worked with Rayne for years, and the pair became incredibly close. At the time, he was married to the late South African actress Nan Munro, who also happened to be Prue's mother's best friend.
“I never asked him to leave his wife because I was very happy,” Prue went on to explain.
“I had none of the duties of life and all of the pleasures of somebody who loved me. I wasn't pressing for marriage. We did have 13 secret years and nobody ever guessed because we were discreet,” she continued.
The TV star went on to note: “But it was easier in a way because he was a family friend, chairman of my company, and he'd helped me enormously and everyone knew we were great friends.”
Prue also detailed that the pair were cautious at the time. "I mean, we didn't go out for dinner or anything that would create any suspicion,” she recalled.
In the end, Rayne left his wife to start a life and a family with Prue. They went on to welcome two children together - son Danny and daughter Li-Da.
The couple tied the knot in 1974 and were married for 28 years, before Rayne died in 2002 at the age of 80.
Concluding the tale of her affair, Prue praised Rayne’s former wife for her forgiveness, and shared that Nan would regularly come to visit Prue and Rayne’s home. "She was amazingly forgiving and an extraordinary woman,” Prue beamed.
