TONY Blackburn admitted he had an affair with his next door neighbour while married to his first wife, Tessa Wyatt.
The radio presenter opened up about his first marriage to the TV actress and revealed that while unfaithful he hugely cut down on the number of women he slept with after tying the knot.
Asked on the Rosebud podcast with Gyles Brandreth if he stopped playing the field following his wedding at the age of 29, Tony said: “Yes I did. Although we both had affairs.
“She didn’t know I was having an affair with the next door neighbour, and then she was having an affair with her [the neighbour’s] husband.”
Tony admitted Tessa only found out he was sleeping with their neighbour when she later read Blackburn’s autobiography.
He said: “She didn’t know I was having an affair until she read the book.
“Isn’t it awful.”
Tony said he regretted saying he’d slept with 250 women in the ghost-written book, but claimed that he hadn’t read it before it went on sale.
“It was too honest.
“My parents didn’t like it very much.
“It was written by somebody called Cheryl Garnsey.
“She said ‘This is ok, but there should be a bit more sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll in it’.
“So I said I’ve done the rock ‘n’ roll bit but not the drugs. So she just said to me ‘how many people have you slept with?’ and I stupidly told her.
“And it was published. And I never read the book before it went out.”
Tony and Tessa parted ways after three years and she later hooked up with her co-star in the comedy series Robin’s Nest.
He said: “She left me for Richard O’ Sullivan. We got married too young.
“I could never understand why she married me in the first place because she was very beautiful.”
Tony later found long-term love with Debra “Debbie” Thomson, a theatrical agent, who he wed in June 1992 at St Margaret’s, Westminster.
The two have remained together ever since and share a daughter named Victoria, plus two grandsons.
Tony Blackburn’s Love Life
Tony has had an active love life, featuring both long and short term partners. These are the key parts.
Tessa Wyatt: This was Tony’s first wife who he married young. Their relationship was intense and well-documented in his memoirs though they ultimately ended up parting ways after a string of affairs on both sides.
Debbie Thomson: Theatre agent Debbie is Tony’s current wife, who he wed in 1992. Tony often calls her the love of his life, despite his past littered with cheating and one-night stands. Together they share a daughter named Victoria who was born in 1997. Tony also has two grandsons.
One-night stands: Tony is reported to have had hundreds of flings, predominantly in his youth. He has openly discussed his lifestyle choice of opting for short-term partners, making his marriage to Debbie an incredible cornerstone where many saw him as a “changed man”.
