Amanda Holden and Les Dennis | Source: Getty Images
The Real Reason Amanda Holden Married Les Dennis at 24, Despite Their 17-Year Age Gap — Their Relationship Timeline in Photos
She was 23, ambitious, and had her whole career ahead of her — so why did Amanda Holden choose to marry a man 17 years her senior? The photos below take you through it.
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Amanda Holden is no stranger to headlines. The "Britain's Got Talent" judge has lived a life that reads more like a primetime drama than a quiet celebrity love story.
Even her professional relationships attract attention — she called fellow BGT judge Simon Cowell "godlike", and once caused a stir when the pair went out for dinner. "He teases me it was a date but it wasn't," she told The Times in 2023. "We went out for dinner and I took my best friend."
But for all the headlines her professional life has generated, nothing has proven more enduring — or more divisive — than what happened in her personal one.
Holden, who was raised by her mother Judith and stepfather Les, worked gruelling jobs to put herself through drama school. She was only 23 when she married Les Dennis, the beloved comedian and "Family Fortunes" presenter who was 17 years her senior.
The pair had met around 1993, and Holden later acknowledged the romance began as purely platonic. "I don't think I consciously fancied him at this stage," she admitted. Yet, by 1995, roughly two years after first crossing paths, the pair were walking down the aisle.
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So what drew her to him? Holden herself has been refreshingly candid — if not entirely certain. Hints of a pattern emerged early: as a 19-year-old contestant on the dating show "Blind Date", she had declared her ideal man to be actor Jack Nicholson, 33 years her senior.
Years later, when asked whether her marriage to Dennis was about seeking a father figure, she didn't dismiss the idea outright.
"I don't know because I've never done therapy, but there is a sort of safety in a relationship like that," she reflected. "I was very young and I had a lot to learn about life."
The marriage lasted eight years. In 2000, Holden had a highly publicised affair with "Men Behaving Badly" actor Neil Morrissey. The couple attempted a reconciliation in 2001, but by 2002 it was over, and the split was public and notoriously messy.
Dennis appeared on "Celebrity Big Brother" that year looking visibly devastated, famously making gloomy small talk with chickens. He has since acknowledged the age gap itself was problematic — recalling the moment a visiting plumber remarked "Kids, eh?" after Holden rushed in to ask him for money.
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The internet, naturally, has had its own verdict. Opinions have been fierce since the story recently reignited public interest.
"He was a stepping stone for her," one commenter declared bluntly. "He was her leg up. And she was his leg over," another quipped with brutal wit. Others were less humorous and more heartbroken on Dennis' behalf.
"I know it broke his heart," one person wrote quietly. "He was used," another stated flatly. Perhaps most pointed of all, a third said, "Les Dennis was at the top of his game when they met. She was just someone he married."
Dennis, to his credit, has found some lightness in the wreckage. Speaking on Christopher Biggins' podcast in 2021, he looked back fondly on the period shortly after his divorce when he starred in pantomimes alongside the late American actor Mickey Rooney.
Before each show, the theatre would play Christmas songs — among them Frank Sinatra's "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas". As Dennis recalled, Rooney would become quite infuriated hearing the beloved classic, and for good reason: Sinatra had run off with Ava Gardner, Rooney's wife.
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Dennis drew a wry parallel to his own situation. Given that Morrissey had voiced the children's character Bob the Builder for 14 years, Dennis quipped, "It would've been like me having to listen to Bob the Builder every night."
Morrissey, for his part, didn't formally apologise to Dennis for the affair until 2014, appearing on "Piers Morgan's Life Stories" to say he felt sorry for "how emotional Les seemed to become."
Holden herself has never shied away from accountability. "I brought it on myself, I appreciate that, but nothing will ever be as bad as again," she told the Daily Mail. "It was a very dark time. It got to the point where I felt I could hardly breathe."
In a striking twist, she credited Dennis himself with helping her through the fallout. "Les proved to be my saviour. Ironically. So the person I'd hurt the most in the world was the one who was there for me."
Still, she was equally unflinching about why the marriage ultimately couldn't survive. "I terribly want children but I didn't want to have them with Les," she revealed in a resurfaced interview. "That's a horribly brutal thing to say, but when you do, you know you have to move on."
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Reflecting on the marriage more recently, Holden said, "As much as I regret hurting people maybe, or causing chaos, it shapes you to who you are in this moment. I think life is too short to have regrets."
It's a remarkably composed perspective on one of British tabloid history's most turbulent love stories — and one that continues to spark fierce debate decades on.
1995
1 of 11
Les Dennis, dressed in a navy morning suit with an ornate cream waistcoat and white rose buttonhole, shares his first kiss with bride Amanda Holden outside the church in Bournemouth. Holden wore a white lace-trimmed gown with a pearl hair accessory and veil, clutching a bouquet of yellow roses and calla lilies.
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1997
2 of 11
Dennis and Holden arrive hand in hand at the London premiere of "Shooting Fish". Dennis wore a dark corduroy blazer over an olive shirt, while Holden opted for a deep navy velvet suit paired with a cross necklace and a bold red lip.
1998
3 of 11
Dennis, in a black tuxedo with satin lapels, and Holden, in a black satin ruched midi dress, pose together on the red carpet at the TV Quick Awards at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
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2000
4 of 11
Holden, in a gold leopard-print slip dress with a sheer wrap, and Dennis, in a black blazer and white T-shirt, hold champagne flutes at the Carlton Television Parliamentary Summer reception in the grounds of Westminster Abbey.
5 of 11
Holden in a plunging, crystal-embellished emerald green satin halterneck gown with a thigh-high split, and Dennis in a purple velvet three-piece suit, on the red carpet at the National Television Awards at the Royal Albert Hall.
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6 of 11
A second shot from the same NTA red carpet that evening — Holden laughing brightly, her dark hair swept up, as Dennis speaks beside her.
2001
7 of 11
Holden waves to the crowd on the pitch at Stamford Bridge in London, wearing a red football shirt, as Dennis looks on beside her in a navy Help a London Child charity polo shirt. The pair attended the seventh annual Soccer Six celebrity tournament together.
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8 of 11
Dennis in a long black coat and Holden in a plunging backless white beaded halterneck gown, clutching a white evening bag, on the red carpet at the Royal Television Awards at the Royal Albert Hall.
9 of 11
Holden rests her hand on Dennis's arm as the pair pose at the "Mean Machine" premiere at the Odeon Kensington. Holden wore an all-white ensemble — a sleeveless turtleneck top, wide-leg trousers and an oversized white fur coat — while Dennis wore a dark suit with an open-collar white shirt.
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2002
10 of 11
Holden and Dennis on the red carpet outside the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, for the British Academy Television Awards. Holden wore an off-the-shoulder white lace gown with a trailing hem and a delicate gold necklace, while Dennis was dressed entirely in black.
11 of 11
Dennis and Holden on the red carpet at the Pantene Pro-V Awards, just weeks before their split was confirmed. Holden wore a fitted brown satin A-line dress with lace-up stiletto heels and her hair swept into a high bun, while Dennis stood beside her in an all-black suit.
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