Tony Blackburn admits cheating on his first wife with their neighbour

Tony Blackburn has opened up on having an affair with his next-door neighbour while married to his first wife, Tessa Wyatt.

The radio presenter, 82, tied the knot with actress Wyatt, 77, in 1972 at London’s Caxton Hall, welcoming son Simon a year later.

They later split in 1977 after both having affairs with their close friends’ partners – Blackburn had an affair with Margo Webb, while Webb’s husband, Roger Webb, was having an affair with Wyatt.

Opening up on the affair, Blackburn spoke to Gyles Brandreth on the Rosebud podcast about how Wyatt found out about it by reading his autobiography.

‘She didn’t know I was having an affair with the next-door neighbour, and then she was having an affair with her [the neighbour’s] husband,’ he said.

‘She didn’t know I was having an affair until she read the book. Isn’t it awful.’

He continued: ‘She left me for Richard O’ Sullivan. We got married too young.

‘I could never understand why she married me in the first place because she was very beautiful.’

Blackburn later went on to marry Debbie Thomson in 1992, welcoming their daughter, Victoria, five years later in 1997.

Speaking about his marriage in an interview with Bang! Showbiz, Blackburn explained how his marriage has helped him maintain such a long career in radio.

‘How have I managed to last for so long? I’m very happily married, which helps,’ he explained.

‘She drives me on tour sometimes when we have to stay overnight for my live ‘Sound of the 60s’ theatre shows. She does sometimes say, “Do you think you’re OK with that?” when I’m doing three shows a week, plus the radio at the weekend.’

Last year, the star revealed he made up claims in his memoir that he slept with 250 women before marrying Debbie.

‘She [the writer] said she hadn’t got enough sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll,’ he revealed to Radio Times.

Turns out, Tony didn’t even read his own memoir before it was published, so he didn’t pick up on the bold claim.

The radio legend continued: ‘Well, I don’t do drugs and I made up this number because I was fed up being asked about my personal life. Not my best moment, to be honest.

‘I didn’t read my own autobiography. It was stupid.’

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