Ulrika Jonsson almost asked her husband if she could have an affair.
Ulrika Jonsson
The 52-year-old television presenter divorced advertising executive Brian Monet this summer after years of a "sexless marriage" and Ulrika revealed she was tempted to ask Brian if she could have sex with someone else while they were still together.
Writing in the Daily Mail newspaper, Ulrika explained: "Overwhelming sadness gave way to a wild and desperate thought: should I ask my husband for permission to seek sexual intimacy elsewhere?
"It was a fleeting notion, born out of deep hurt and frustration over the fact that Brian and I had made love just once in nearly eight years. But one shocking enough, as this landmark birthday approached, to make me realise just how wretched my sexless marriage was making me feel.
"It didn't help that the odd time I instigated sex, Brian made it clear he wasn't interested. These rebuffs crippled my confidence. Unsurprisingly, I vowed not to open myself up to similar humiliation again.
"I knew damn well I didn't want to be with anyone else; that I revered the family we'd built together too much to betray it.
"But I also couldn't reconcile myself to never being touched or made love to again."
The 'Gladiators' star - who is mother to Cameron, 24, from her first marriage to John Turnbull, Bo, 19, from her relationship with Marcus Kempen, Martha, 14, whom she has with second spouse Lance Gerrard-Wright, and Malcolm, 10, with Brian - also spoke about the effect the menopause had on her already fragile confidence and how it affected her mental health.
She explained: "Compounding my sorrow over this situation was the profound impact the menopause was having on me at that time, predominantly on my mental health and sense of self.
"Prior to this hormonal shift, which started in my late 40s, I'd always felt that I had counted for something: that I mattered and people noticed me; that I was still a vibrant sexual being.
"That Brian, who'd vowed to love me for the rest of my life, showed no concern over my mental anguish, while making no pretence to still fancy me, added to a disconcerting feeling that who I was had disappeared."
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