BBC star admits addiction and cheating on wife and says 'could have killed me'

Comedian Marcus Brigstocke has confessed to becoming addicted to pornography after being unfaithful to his wife. The 51 year old comedian, a regular on Have I Got News For You, has bravely shared his story.

He overcame drug and alcohol addiction at the age of 17 and shed an impressive 13 stone in just nine months, was previously married to Sophie Prideaux from 2001 until 2013.

However, their marriage ended when she found out about his infidelity. Marcus began an affair with Coronation Street and Dancing On Ice star Hayley Tamaddon in 2010 while they were touring together in the musical Spamalot.

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Marcus and Sophie, who share two children, Alfie and Emily, decided to end their marriage in July 2014. Speaking on The Hidden 20% podcast with host Ben Branson, Marcus reflected on his past actions, saying: "I did the most hurtful, chaotic, devastating thing I could think of, I had an affair which ended my marriage and there were two kids in the mix.

"The amount of shame I carried with that was huge, I didn't defend myself publicly. I carried the mess of that around with me, and it led to a lot of very dysfunctional behaviour that I was in denial about.

"And, so I'd stayed sober from drugs, alcohol, and my compulsive eating disorder, but I had become addicted to porn."

He revealed that his addiction began with something seemingly innocuous but added: "There are so many people with different depths of addiction to porn.

"But porn is the most toxic and it's changing an awful lot of young men," he said. Marcus confessed to having "fallen into a hole", spending several hours watching porn, but stated he "wasn't ashamed".

He described ending his addiction as a huge "relief" and spoke of regaining "clarity" after seeking help. Speaking candidly about his recovery, Marcus warned of the dangers of keeping addiction a secret, saying it could have "killed him".