3 days ago
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Anneka Rice has revealed a letter she received from her ex-husband's lawyer during divorce negotiations led her to quit her hugely successful TV career.
In the early nineties, the star was one of the biggest names on TV, thanks to her hit shows Treasure Hunt and Challenge Anneka.
But in 1992 she separated from her husband, theatre producer Nick Allott, with whom she shared two young sons.
In the middle of divorce negotiations in 1995, she received a letter from her ex-husband's lawyer that implied she was a bad mother for working.
Whilst she now admits it was a misunderstanding and attributes the wording to 'legal banter' that did not come from her ex, she says the letter pushed her to make a drastic decision.
'It wasn't that my children would be taken from me, because obviously I was their carer. It was just the fear that I wasn't being 100 per cent the right mother,' she explained to The Times.
Anneka Rice has revealed a letter she received from her ex-husband's lawyer during divorce negotiations led her to quit her hugely successful TV career (pictured on Challenge Anneka in 1989)
In 1992 she split from her husband, theatre producer Nick Allott, with whom she shared two young sons (pictured in 1988 with Allott and their newborn son Thomas)
Citing her tumultuous relationship with her own mother, Anneka continued: 'I’ve never had that bedrock of being able to ring someone and say, "Is this right? What do I do next?"’
'I had money, I had an amazing career behind me and in front of me and around me. It didn't disappear at all. I did it with a feeling of where I was in the world, very content in my position. I was truly content and I enjoyed motherhood.'
Anneka and her ex husband split after four years of marriage following her affair with TV executive Tom Gutteridge, but they didn't officially divorce until 2014 and have remained good friends and co-parents to Thomas, 37, and Joshua, 36.
Anneka and Tom split six months after her third son, Sam was born in 1997. She has been linked to comedy writer Simon Bell for two decades but rarely speaks about her personal life.
A decade after quitting her TV career, Anneka explained that her decision to step back was also based on exhaustion.
'People didn't realise what I went through,' she admitted in 2006. 'It was a terribly emotional and harrowing time. Challenges lasted four days, working round the clock with little sleep.'
'I ended up with nervous exhaustion and decided to pack it in and go to art college,' she explained.
In the early 2000s, she returned to work as a regular presenter on The Wright Stuff before bringing Challenge Anneka back to screens for two specials.
'It wasn't that my children would be taken from me, because obviously I was their carer. It was just the fear that I wasn't being 100 per cent the right mother,' she explained (pictured in 2026)
She is also still heavily involved in community projects and volunteering and was recently awarded an MBE for services to charity and broadcasting.
Next up is the release of her autobiography Challenge!, set to be released this week, whilst she is busy filming for The One Show and an upcoming BBC documentary on carers.
Speaking to The Times last month, Anneka has admitted she's come to realise that she will always live with a 'level of inherent sadness', which she can only overcome when she's busy.
'I think I just carry with me a level of sort of sadness as a human being,' she explained, 'which is why I reach out all the time, and I think that’s just in me.'
'It isn’t depression. There is a difference between sadness and depression. It’s sort of an inherent sadness and it’s weird.'
'But as I say, when I’m moving forward I don’t feel it … I’ve just always known that other people seem to skip through life in a merry old way and I seem always to be taking an old suitcase around with me.'
English (US) ·