Martin Clunes’ ex-wife says actor’s brutal comment ‘ended’ their marriage
Martin Clunes’s ex-wife has revealed the brutal comment that allegedly caused the end of their marriage.
Actor Lucy Aston was the first wife of the Doc Martin and Out There star, marrying in 1990. But their relationship broke down three years later – and, according to Aston, this occurred after a row in a Chinese restaurant.
Reflecting on the dissolution of their marriage, Aston recalled how tensions arose as Clunes found success in his acting career, which led to his casting in Men Behaving Badly in 1992.
Aston claimed that the fateful row erupted after Clunes “forgot” to invite her to a party around this time.
She told The Mirror that the subject came up when they were out for dinner, with Clunes allegedly telling his then wife: “You are an embarrassment.”
Aston claimed that the actor branded her “dull and boring” for her decision to shun nights out in favour of staying at home and studying to become a crisis counsellor.
“He told me I was boring and different and I just thought: ‘No more.’ I stood up and said, ‘Thanks for dinner – this is the end,’ and stormed out. I sat in the car shaking with rage.
Martin Clunes married first wife Lucy Aston in 1990 (Waldegrave/ANL/Shutterstock)
“Later, I went back and Martin was sitting there, surrounded by takeaway cartons filled with our meal. He just looked at me. I took off my gold wedding ring, slammed it on the table and walked out.”
She added: “We both knew it was over.”
The pair divorced in 1997 and Clunes married his second wife, TV producer Philippa Braithwaite, later that year. They are still together and have one daughter, Emily, who was born in 1999.
Martin Clunes with his wife of 28 years, Philippa Braithwaite (Getty Images)
The Independent has contacted Clunes for comment.
Clunes previously called his marriage to Aston “rotten”, telling The Mail in 2008: “When I met Philippa I was coming out of a rotten marriage, and was very resistant to the idea of getting involved again.”
The actor’s 1990s sitcom Men Behaving Badly turned 30 in 2022 and, just last year, his co-star Caroline Quentin questioned whether the show could be made today.
“It was getting pretty past its sell-by date by the last series, really,” Quentin said. “So we’d be pushing our luck 20 or 30 years later.”
She continued: “You plough that furrow. And there comes a point where you just go, ‘Umm, I think we’ve done this now.’ And the world moved on, mercifully. We didn’t have social media in those days, and there are lots of reasons why we couldn’t make it now.”
