Fern Britton admits her divorce was caused by test she did behind husband’s back

Fern Britton has opened up about her first marriage, admitting she went behind her husband's back to take a controversial test which ultimately spelled trouble for their relationship.

TV presenter Fern starred on Celebrity Big Brother earlier this year alongside the likes of Sharon Osbourne and Louis Walsh.

While on the show, she opened up about her personal life, talking about her previous marriages, and how they ended.

During her stint on CBB, she was tolerable of her fellow housemates, but vowed to leave if her ex-colleague Phillip Scofield stepped foot in the house.

This is following a public dispute between the pair.

Fern admitted that she took the secret test, which led to the marriage collapsing. (Mike Marsland/Getty Images for Good Housekeeping Live)

She was open about meeting her first husband, TV executive Clive Jones, while he was still married to his previous wife.

After a year-long affair, Fern called things off, but Clive decided to leave his wife for the TV star, and the couple went on to have three children together.

Despite their connection, the pair ended up calling it quits in 1998.

She met her second husband in the same year as her divorce. (Mark Cuthbert/UK Press via Getty Images)

Over two decades later, Fern revealed that the divorce was actually prompted by an IQ test that she did in secret to prove a point to her then-husband.

She claimed Clive was 'furious' after she went off and did a test, and passed' with the situation opening an 'immense rift'.

She told the Walking The Dog with Emily Dean podcast: "He had this degree and I don't.

“I secretly went off and did the Mensa.

“I lied, I said I was going somewhere else, and it took a day to do this test.

“I passed - and quite well too.

“Then he was furious so he did it because he's got a huge brain.

“But he's not a problem solver and he didn't get it.

“So an immense rift opened.”

They divorced in 200, the same year she married her second husband, TV chef Phil Vickery.

The pair remained together for 20 years and share a daughter called Winnie, but announced their bombshell split in 2020.

She told Woman & Home magazine: "We simply needed to follow our own paths.

“Over time we realised we weren't necessarily having the kind of life we once did.

“It seemed right to say 'thank you' and move on.

“But we do have a good friendship.”

Last year she confessed that she would never think about getting married again, but that the door was slightly open to new love interests.