Marcus Brigstocke has explained why he decided to spend a ‘silly’ amount of money buying back his own motorhome.
The comedian, 52, is best known for his stand-up work, as well as appearing in films and TV shows including Love Actually, Have I Got News for You and Live at the Apollo.
Although he’s carved out a successful career, he’s now detailed being left significantly out of pocket after being desperate to re-purchase one of his own possessions.
This week he was a guest on the new Spent! podcast, in which he described how his motorhome – which he’d used for touring – was stolen in broad daylight from outside his house in South London.
Believing the vehicle would never be recovered, the comedian managed to secure an insurance payout.
However, two years later he was contacted by Norfolk Police, who said it had been recovered.
But to get it back, Brigstocke had to buy it at auction from the insurance company.
He then undertook what he labelled as a ‘wildly stupid’ purchase.
‘I bought it back for much more than it was worth,’ he told host Matt Edmondson.
‘My heart was so attached to it. My kids had grown up in it.
‘To be fair, when I did get it back – there – there was a little box on the side of it… it was always difficult to open. Only I could do it.
‘I opened it up and my kids’ buckets and spades from the beach were still in there. The scumbag who’d stolen it hadn’t managed to open it.’
He continued: ‘I bought it back for a silly price, it was a wildly stupid thing to do. I didn’t need it. I wasn’t going to use it. My life had changed.
‘It needed so much work to be fixed and cleaned after this guy had nicked it. I tried a few times to make it feel mine again. That failed utterly.
‘I hung onto it for four or five more years, but I just sold it this year. It was really sad to see it go.’
Brigstocke also explained how his decision caused some tension with his wide, comedian Rachel Parris, who was unimpressed he’d purchased an item filled with memories from his first marriage.
‘My wife Rachel, we had not been together very long when I bought it back – she wasn’t at the stage in our relationship where she felt able to go: “What are you doing? Please don’t buy the motorhome you used with your first wife”. I was obtuse and didn’t really think of that.’
Brigstocke was previously married to film-maker Sophie Prideaux, who he shares two children with, from 2001 until 2013.
The divorced following his affair with Spamalot co-star Hayley Tamaddon, which began in 2010.
He previously told the i Paper that he’d been battling a porn addiction that led to him having an affair.
‘The things I was into sexually were altered by what I was seeing. I won’t go into specifics, but it taught me there is so much elasticity in our sexuality,’ he said.
He’s been in a relationship with Parris, 40, since 2018. They shared one son, who was born in 2021.
The comedian has previously spoken about ‘being in recovery for various addictions all my adult life’.
‘I had an eating disorder from the age of 10 followed by drug and alcohol dependency,’ he told The Guardian.
Speaking about his addiction on The Hidden 20% podcast last year, Brigstocke also explained: ‘I’d stayed sober from drugs, alcohol, and my compulsive eating disorder, but I had become addicted to porn.
‘I really had no idea that I was addicted to it. I sort of thought I looked at a normal amount of porn. Well, the normal amount of porn today is not like a normal amount of porn…before the internet.’
He went on to explain how many porn addicts ‘were addicted from about the age of 11’, adding it ‘profoundly alters your brain chemistry’.
‘There are so many people with different depths of addiction to porn and to online social media. But porn is the most toxic,’ he said.
The comedian would watch porn ‘all night, for the entire night’, before seeking help.
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