Gavin and Stacey star Ruth Jones met her husband David Peet when he was married to someone else and admitted she was later haunted by the ‘overlap’. Last night Ruth revealed that she and David are splitting after 26 years of marriage
Ruth Jones shared a rare and heartbreaking update on her personal life yesterday as she revealed she’s split from her husband David Peet after 26 years of marriage. The Gavin and Stacey star announced to shocked fans yesterday evening that her and David had gone their separate ways.
In a statement shared with the PA news agency, they said: “We amicably went our separate ways 18 months ago and are now legally separated. We remain good friends. Since our separation, Ruth is living in London and David is living in Canada, where he is in a new relationship.” Ruth was a step-mum to David’s three children from a previous marriage.
The pair met back in 1999 when they were filming the pilot episode of a BBC comedy during the 1990s. They actually spoke on the phone before they met, with Ruth joking: “It was love at first voice because I spoke to [him] on the phone before I met him.”
David was married at the time they met and Ruth later admitted that there was an overlap between him splitting from his wife and the pair starting to date. She spoke about her guilt over their affair in the past.
“Affairs cause a lot of pain; they’re not something one aspires to do. You don’t aspire to cause pain to people in their life,” she said. Ruth rarely talked about her romance but back in 2008, she described him as a “naturally funny man”.
She said: “He has a very sharp mind combined with a dry Yorkshire wit, making him a naturally funny man.”
The couple lived in Cardiff, where they established their production company Tidy Productions. Whilst she didn’t discuss her marriage specifically, she did speak about her thoughts on motherhood and children.
She said: “It just didn’t happen. It wasn’t a decision. I don’t have a burning desire to have babies. I think it’s heartbreaking if you do and you find out you can’t have them. I love being a stepmum — all the joy of motherhood without the pain of childbirth.”
On being a stepmum, she added: “You take things as they come. There wasn’t a moment when I thought, ‘I’ve become a stepmum now.’ We never had any difficulty with teenage angst, and now I’m looking forward to becoming a step-grandmother at some point.”
Ruth and David also confirmed he is now with someone else and has moved to Canada. Ruth has remained in the UK, where she has a string of big jobs lined up including starring alongside Richard E Grant in a new period drama.
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