Professor Green has revealed he is now in contact with his ex-wife Millie Mackintosh despite ‘very nearly’ calling off their wedding.
The rapper, 41, was married to the Made in Chelsea star, 35, for three years until they split in 2016.
Although the former couple have rarely spoken about their relationship over the years, in the past he did make scathing remarks.
The performer – real name Stephen Paul Manderson – previously appeared to label their marriage ‘the one bloody mistake I made’ and said he ‘felt like a novelty’ spending time with her rich London socialite friends.
However, he’s now given an insight into what happened between them – and how they are now on good terms nearly a decade after divorcing.
During an appearance on Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast, Professor Green said he and Millie both felt ‘pressure’ to tie the knot, which nearly saw him cancel their wedding.
‘If there wasn’t that pressure, we may have never got married. It very nearly didn’t happen,’ he said.
‘I remember having a conversation with my two best mates, Lewis and Phoenix. “Am I getting cold feet? What’s going on here?” And one of them said yes. One of them said no. I won’t put him in it, because it’s not their responsibility.
‘I made my own decision. We made our decision, and we didn’t get married for the wrong reasons. We loved each other.’
But, he added: ‘It was probably an element of trauma bonding. And it takes a lot to get to a place of going, “I had a significant part in that, 50% at least, because there were two of us in the situation, and it didn’t work out”. But hopefully we can both go forward and find happiness and belonging.’
Reflecting on the attention the couple generated when together, Professor Green said it was ‘crazy’.
‘The pressure that came from that…it just made it impossible in hindsight to have a really truly authentic relationship,’ he said.
He went on to explain that he’d recently reconnected with his ex-wife to support each other and reflect on their undiagnosed ADHD.
‘There was undiagnosed neurodivergence between both of us. We had a conversation about this recently, and it makes sense.’
Speaking of his ex, he added: ‘I don’t want to sit here and speak ill of her at all. There isn’t any resentment. She is gorgeous.
‘We were just not good for each other at that time.’
Millie previously admitted that ahead of their lavish 2013 wedding at Babington House in Somerset that the relationship ‘wasn’t right but I was too scared to call it off because of the shame of letting everyone down’.
However, in 2018 she shut down claims their upbringings were the ‘foundation for the breakup’.
While Millie is an heiress of Quality Street – which was founded by her great-grandfather and great-uncle, her ex was raised by his grandmother, great-grandmother and uncles in a two-bedroom flat on the Northwold housing estate in Hackney.
‘Those comments only degrade the relationship and time we spent together, and I certainly don’t feel that way about that period of my life or Stephen,’ she told You magazine.
‘We went our separate ways amicably. Sometimes it can be as simple as finding yourselves on different paths, and for us it was about respecting those journeys and each other’s wishes by parting ways. We have since both moved on. I only wish him the best.’
The same week that their divorce was finalised in May 2016, Millie went public with her now-husband Hugo Taylor, whom she’d previously dated and starred with on Made in Chelsea.
They were married in July 2018 and share two daughters – Sienna, 5, and Aurelia, 4.
Meanwhile Professor Green welcomed son Slimane Ray with actress girlfriend Karima McAdams in March 2021.
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