MOST of us have had the odd romantic encounter that we now look back on and wonder: ‘What were we thinking?’
And celebrities are no different, with Neil Morrissey admitting this week he regrets his affair with Amanda Holden.
The Men Behaving Badly star had a five-week fling with the Britain’s Got Talent judge while she was married to Les Dennis.
Their romance was exposed in 2000 and ultimately led to Amanda and Les divorcing in 2003.
Here we reveal other bizarre celebrity love affairs you probably forgot about – and some stars will be glad you did…
Lembit Opik and the Cheeky Girl
Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit is arguably more well known for his scandalous love life than his political prowess.
His first high profile romance was with ITV weathergirl Sian Lloyd, with whom he appeared on a celebrity version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in April 2006.
But they called off their engagement and split in October that year, with Sian blaming his boozing and womanising in her autobiography.
When he struck up an unlikely romance with Gabriela Irimia – one half of the Romanian pop duo The Cheeky Girls, and 18 years his junior – Sian branded him a love cheat and described their affair as a “pantomime”.
Sian said: “I wasn’t sure what to do with my engagement ring. It’s Welsh gold and very special to me.
“My instinct now is to keep it. After all, I wouldn’t like to see it on the finger of a Cheeky Girl.”
Lembit and Gabriela got engaged, with the MP telling Hello! magazine he’d found his “intellectual equal” with whom he enjoyed evenings playing Scrabble and having “great conversations about everything from science and philosophy to value structure”.
But they split in July 2008 after two years following a “difficult period” in the relationship.
James Acaster ‘dumped for Rowan Atkinson’
Comedian James, 38, managed to see the funny side when his girlfriend of two years, Louise Ford, dumped him for Rowan Atkinson.
The Mock The Week star claimed Louise, now 42, grew distant while starring alongside the Mr Bean actor, 68, in Quartermaine’s Terms in the West End in 2013.
That year Rowan, who is worth about £70million, had left his make-up artist wife Sunetra Sastry, 62, after 24 years.
James, who had been living with Louise prior to their split, claimed he only found out they were together when he read about it in The Sun on Sunday.
He confessed during a stand-up show: “I got left for Mr Bean. I found out a year after we split up. I opened the newspaper and there was a full-page story.
“No one else in the history of time has ever been left for Mr Bean… Until you get left for Mr Bean, you don’t realise how frequently he pops up.
“There’s a shop two streets from my house that sells masks of his face. There’s nowhere where I’m going to go that he’s not there.”
Rowan and Louise moved in together in 2014 and in December 2017 she gave birth to his third child, Isla.
Bill Murray and Kelis
It was the summer romance no one saw coming – Milkshake singer Kelis, 44, and Ghostbusters star Bill Murray, 73.
It emerged the couple were dating in June this year after they were spotted together at a number of her shows.
Sources told The Sun they were at the same hotel and had been “getting close for a while” after first meeting in their native US and bonding over their shared loss.
Kelis’ second husband Mike Mora died in March 2022 after being diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer, while Bill’s estranged wife passed away in 2021.
Mum-of-two Kelis eventually broke her silence to say they were “both blessed, rich and happy”.
But two months later she reportedly called it quits after “things just ran their course”.
A source said: “They both have busy schedules and after a whirlwind romance decided to go their separate ways.
“They hope to remain friends but also plan to get on with their lives.”
Charlie Dimmock’s Ground Force liaison
Charlie, now 57, admitted she did the dirty on her long-term partner John Mushet when she fell for her Ground Force colleague, microphone operator Andy Simmons, in 2001.
She revealed shortly after the short-lived fling that she had “no regrets”, but did struggle with the fact it ended her 13-year relationship.
Charlie told The Daily Mail in 2002: “I don’t see Andy anymore, but I don’t regret what happened.
“You wouldn’t do anything if you kept worrying about what might go wrong.
“John and I had been together for a long time so when we split up I relied heavily on family and close friends… I’ve discovered that the most difficult after-effect of the break-up is getting into another relationship.”
Nigel Farage and the porn star
Current I’m A Celeb camp mate Nigel has made headlines for his role in UKIP and the Brexit referendum – and his love life.
In 2017 – while estranged from his second wife, German government bond broker Kirsten Mehr – the politician was hit with claims by pornstar Valerie Fox that they had snogged at 30,000 feet on a transatlantic flight.
The adult entertainer, 36, told The Sun: “He had absolutely no qualms about anyone else seeing us together. Our hands were everywhere.”
She claimed it was only a fear of being discovered by flight attendants that stopped them going all the way.
Valerie also claimed Nigel whisked her off in his chauffeur-driven car before they snogged again and went their separate ways.
Nigel was quick to rebuff her claims and said he was sleeping for most of the flight, adding: “There was advances very much in one direction that were rejected.
“I saw what was going on and walked away.”
Mary Berry’s whisk-y business
National treasure Mary, 88, made a shocking confession in 2019 when she revealed she dated multiple men at the same time before marrying her husband Paul J.M. Hunnings in 1966.
The former Bake Off host told Sue Perkins’ An Hour or So With podcast: “Paul was a friend of my brother’s and I met him and we sort of did things together.
“But I had another boyfriend in Bath, and he was in London and I used to go home at the weekend.
“Paul was the London one and I had a Bath one. Actually there were several in Bath ‒ you keep your options open.”
Paul, 91, proposed to Mary three times before she said yes, telling her on the third attempt: “I’m getting on in age, so either it’s yes or no.”