Claire King found out her ex-husband was having an affair after she received a letter from his new lover’s husband.
The 54-year-old actress has admitted she gave her former partner Peter Amory a number of chances to make their 10-year marriage work, but it wasn’t until her former ‘Emmerdale’ co-star Samantha Giles’ ex-beau, Nick Moore, penned a letter informing her the 52-year-old actor was cheating on her she decided to take action.
Speaking about her break-up on ‘Loose Women’ on Friday (04.08.17), Claire – who portrayed Kim Tate in ‘Emmerdale’ for 10 years – said: "She wants that second chance, and I’ve been in that situation with my marriage. And I gave my husband Pete a second chance.
"Two strikes you’re out. People remain within a relationship that really they shouldn’t sometimes and they could have got out. I think you have to move on and get on with your life.
"I found out about it through a letter from the girls husband and my agent rang me saying ‘There are bits and pieces in the paper’.
"It wasn’t anything to do with her. "
But the busty blonde believes the break-up was inevitable as she felt the pair had "grown apart" and because Peter was still working on the longstanding soap with Samantha whilst she was away filming ‘Bad Girls’ .
She explained: "I was working, we had the distance between us. It got past the seven year itch, and it was coming to that fork in the road. So nobody was really to blame. It was just we had grown apart.
And Claire believes if Peter hadn’t strayed from their relationship, then she "could have" been unfaithful.
She said: "Quite honestly it could have been me. "
Although Claire could see the split was on the cards, she found it "hard" to get over the break-up because everything had "imploded" on her at once.
She said: "It was hard because I was in my 40s, and I was at the crossroads career wise, and everything seemed to implode because it all happened at once, and it was scary."
Claire has claimed she is on good terms with Peter and Samantha, who are no longer together.
She said: "I met Sam at a funeral of a close friend of ours, and she said ‘Look I’m really sorry’. After all these years its water under the bridge.
"But we are friends."