Life-long pals Ant and Dec have recalled a rare falling out in their friendship which resulted in punches being thrown.
The I’m A Celeb hosts lifted the lid on the 1995 incident which occurred after a night of boozy parting just hours ahead of their early morning appearance on ITV.
Ant and Dec, now both 48, were in Spain at the time promoting their latest single Stuck On U and during a rare day off headed to the pub.
Writing in their 2020 memoir Once Upon a Tyne: Our Story the pair said after a few too many drinks Dec decided call it a night ahead of their early morning interview.
However Ant was not happy with ending the party and as his friend stumbled to the lift demanded: ‘Don’t you dare walk away from me when I’m talking to you.’
Life-long best pals Ant and Dec have recalled a rare falling out in their friendship which resulted in punches being thrown
The I’m A Celeb hosts lifted the lid on the 1995 incident which occurred after a night of boozy parting just hours ahead of their early morning appearance on ITV (pictured in 1995)
A furious Dec then ranted back, asking his pal ‘who the hell did he think he was’ talking to him like that.
The duo continued to argue in the lift before a drunken Dec put his fingers in his ears and sung: ‘La la la la, I can’t hear you’.
Ant confessed in the book: ‘That made my blood boil, I punched Dec in the chest.’
Dec tried to knock his pal’s cap off only to miss with Ant quipping: ‘I proved Dec is rubbish at fighting when he’s had a few’.
Just two hours later the feuding friends were in make-up, refusing to even look at each other, as they prepared to appear on GMTV.
However once in front of the camera the tensions thawed and the pals claimed to have never fought again over the past 30 years.
In 2019 Ant revealed that he turned to alcohol in a bid to escape his ‘underlying unhappiness’ ahead of his shocking drink-driving arrest.
In a candid interview with The Sun On Sunday the star, whose marriage to Lisa Armstrong ended in 2018, stated that he was secretly drinking in order to cope with the ‘stresses and strains’ of his life.
Ant and Dec, now both 48, were in Spain at the time promoting their latest single Stuck On U, and during a rare day off they headed to the pub (pictured in 2006)
Ant was not happy with ending the party and as his friend Dec stumbled to the lift demanded: ‘Don’t you dare walk away from me when I’m talking to you’ – before a fight broke out (pictured in 1995)
He also revealed that, following his drink-driving arrest, he was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a mental condition which he has says is strongly linked to alcohol dependency.
‘Life hit me hard,’ Ant told The Sun of his spiral into heavy drinking. ‘I was going through a lot of personal stuff that was very publicised. The problem is you take something or you drink to escape from an underlying unhappiness.’
Ant, who is rumoured to be expecting his first child with second wife Anne-Marie Corbett, pleaded guilty to drink-driving following a car crash in London that year and confessed to being ‘dependent’ on alcohol around the time of the crash.
He confessed: ‘I was still drinking in a dependent state. Not all the time. But enough to worry about it. I hadn’t addressed it. It was building up which led to the day of the crash which was the single worst day of my life.’
Anne-Marie, 46, appeared to be several months pregnant when she touched down in London earlier this month after a winter break in Dubai with the TV presenter.
Speculations increased after Anne decided against flying to Australia to be at her husband’s side as while he hosted ITV‘s I’m A Celebrity – while Declan Donnelly was joined by his wife Ali Astall and their two children, Isla, five, and Jack, one.
Ant’s wife Anne-Marie , 46, appeared to be several months pregnant when she touched down in London earlier this month after a winter break in Dubai with the TV presenter
There have been rumours swirling for some months that Ant and his wife Anne-Marie, 46, might be expecting their first child together (pictured together at Silverstone Circuit for F1 Grand Prix in July 2023)
Anne-Marie has two teenage daughters from her previous marriage to Scott Corbett, whom she split from shortly before she began dating the presenter after being Ant’s PA.
Ant’s marriage to his ex wife Lisa Armstrong ended in 2018, after 14 years together.
Friends claim the Strictly make-up artist, 47, will be ‘very upset’ if her former partner’s happy news is confirmed because she too was desperate to become a mother.
It is believed Lisa and Ant tried for a baby for several years and she was devastated when their marriage ended, still childless.
A friend said: ‘Anne-Marie was Lisa’s friend, and she was heavily involved in getting her the job working for the McPartlins.
‘Lisa would send Anne-Marie’s children birthday and Christmas presents, she even went on holiday with them, and then bang, it all changed.’
Ant has always been open about his desire to be a father.
In 2013 he revealed the couple’s struggles, saying: ‘There’s a rumour that I’m holding off having kids till Dec finds himself Mrs Right.
‘I love that idea, but I’m afraid it’s not true. Lisa and I would love to have kids. We’re trying. It’s tougher than you think when you get a bit older.’
