15 December 2023 , 12:00
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Monty Don says he doesn't "feel bad" about breaking up a friend's marriage and subsequently marrying his pal's wife.
The Gardeners' World presenter fell in love with his now wife Sarah after meeting her when she was already married to a wealthy botanist.
Opening up on falling in love with Sarah, Monty explained: "It was obviously complicated. I don't think it was love at first sight. I think it was intense attraction at first sight.
"Her husband was someone that I rode with and knew very well, and that was the case for about six months where I'd meet them socially. I remember thinking in a sort of quite banal way 'How come that she met him before she met me? Why's the person that you feel strongly attracted to with somebody else? Marriage or not'."
"It never crossed my mind that it could be anything else. It wasn't like I was trying to pinch someone else's wife - there was no question of that," he said on the White Wine Question Time podcast.
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Monty has 'no regrets' about how he met his wife Sarah (Instagram/ @themontydon)"And then about a year later, our paths crossed and her husband was away for about four months on a field trip. He was a botanist.”
The Gardeners' World presenter, who has been with Sarah for 40 years, continued: "She chose me and it was for about six months an extremely difficult, unhappy tormented set up because he obviously was not very happy with that arrangement.”
Monty revealed his friend "felt betrayed" and was "very angry" with their behaviour, but the presenter admitted he didn't "feel bad" about the situation.
"The point is I've always felt a bit guilty about it, but at the same time there is a kind of ruthlessness. All is fair in love and war," he said. "You can't pussyfoot about. If you decide to be with someone and it means breaking up their marriage, you can't then say 'Oh I feel really bad about this'.
"No I don't. I thought it was great, it was wonderful. I'm so glad. I feel sorry for him, but it happened and I'm really glad it happened. I have no regrets at all."
Monty proposed to Sarah on a rowing boat in Scotland and insisted on staying out on the water until his partner changed her mind after she first admitted she wasn't sure. The presenter then secretly planned the wedding for less than a week after they returned home, giving his fiancée 48 hours' notice.
The presenter has also faced tough times in his marriage with Sarah threatening to leave him because of his depression if he did not seek help, which he subsequently did.
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