Denise Van Outen says wages and ego caused her bitter feud with Johnny Vaughn.
The 45-year-old TV star shared presenting duties with Johnny, 53, on Channel 4’s ‘The Big Breakfast’, before their on-screen partnership ended amid competition over their salaries and Denise has now opened up about the breakdown of their friendship.
Speaking on Natalie Pinkham’s ‘In The Pink’ podcast, Denise said: "We were proper mates. I laughed every day, we used to laugh to the point where I was going to wet myself. Then things happened and we’ve had fallouts along the way.
"There’s are couple of reasons why… when the show became successful and we were negotiating contracts I thought we were doing it as a team but his agent had other ideas and she got him more money and there were all those arguments that happens with bands and presenters.
"I wanted us to be a team and it became apparent we were not a team anymore and we never got back on track.
"Sometimes when I do meet up with male people in the industry their egos take over a bit and they don’t want to have the conversation.
"I do love him to bits I’m not saying anything untoward about him! I don’t know his kids and we don’t really know anything about each other anymore."
The pair briefly reunited to host the Capital FM breakfast show in 2008, eight years after their initial falling out, but Denise quit after just six months due to their strained relationship.