Denise Van Outen: why I fell out with ‘best friend’ Johnny Vaughan

DENISE VAN OUTEN has revealed how her close relationship with Johnny Vaughan was ‘tarnished’ when the pair fell out over pay.

Speaking on ITV’s Loose Women, Denise said she and her Big Breakfast co-host were ‘literally like brother and sister’ when they first fronted the show in 1997 — until she found out he had been negotiating his contract separately.

‘You put so much trust in a person and I’ve had it in the past in the 90s. I can talk about it because it’s been public, I had a big fall-out with Johnny Vaughan, who I did The Big Breakfast with.

‘At that particular time we were literally like brother and sister, we were best friends, unbreakable.

‘The whole relationship fell apart when we started to renegotiate our contracts because I always felt that we worked together as a team and that is how it should be.

‘We created it together — and not just us, the rest of the team working on the show. I always had that mentality that it’s about all of us.’

Denise acknowledged that there were ‘other influences involved’ and shared how she confronted Johnny about cutting his own deal.

‘He was negotiating separately from me, his contract, which I found out, obviously confronted him and I realised then at that point our friendship had gone in two different directions and for me it was tarnished — and that is why I left the show.

‘I knew at that point it would never be the same in that working environment.’

Denise did try again with Johnny in 2000, but she said ‘a similar thing happened again’.

She admits it’s been hard, but she’s tried to put the trouble behind her.

‘I could still be angry about it now, but I have seen him since and whenever I see him, because I love him so much and he makes me laugh so much — more than anyone I’ve ever met — I just forget about it.

‘We were really, really good friends, I just don’t know if it would ever be the same again.’

Author: Anna Thomson