Whether your allegiance lies with Hollyoaks, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, EastEnders or Coronation Street, you’ve likely come across Stockport-born actor Will Mellor.
He and his wife Michelle McSween starred together in the stage musical Oh, What a Night in 1999.
They married in 2007 and recently celebrated 26 years since their first date. But it hasn’t been completely smooth sailing. He revealed last year that during they separated more than once before they made it down the aisle.
From a one-night stand with a Hollywood legend to a romance with Coronation Street star Angela Griffin, here’s a brief rundown of Will Mellor’s romantic exploits, featuring ups as well as downs.
Will Mellor and his wife Michelle McSween split ‘loads of times’
During an episode of the Two Pints with Will and Ralf podcast, Will Mellor told his former Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps co-star about the bumps that he and wife Michelle have weathered along the way.
“We split up loads of times along the way…but only [over] minor bits and bobs. But you know what I mean when you start a relationship – long-distance relationships are tough at first.”
They met while starring together in Oh, What a Night in 1999 and tied the knot in 2007.
Work commitments have inevitably got in the way, at times.
“I spend quite a bit of time away, especially with work and stuff like that. And that’s not terrible for a relationship,” he went on, per the Express. “You know, it’s nice to miss each other.
“Sometimes I think if you’re each other’s pockets every day that you can get sick of each other. I’m not saying I do but she probably does me. I probably drive her crackers because I’m a nutter,” Will – who’s on James Martin’s Saturday Kitchen this weekend (March 29) – said.
They have two kids together, Jayden, born in 2004, and Renee, who arrived in 2008.
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He dated Corrie star Angela Griffin in the 1990s
Before he hit it off with Michelle, Will Mellor struck up a romance with fellow TV star Angela Griffin.
They were together for two years before separating in 1999.
Their whirlwind romance made headlines, including when Will claimed – reportedly – that when they split up, they were on the cusp of marriage.
It was a step too far for Angela, who told Bolton News three years later: “That’s rubbish. It made me really angry when I heard what he had said in that magazine interview.”
In the intervening period, she swore off dating actors, estimating that half of the stories that appeared about her and Will’s relationship in the tabloids were untrue.
Nevertheless, the pair managed to stay friends.
“We’re still good mates, though,” Angela said in 2001. “Is that grown-up of me? Or more like manipulative moves: ‘We’re just friends, but look what you could have had!'”
One-night stand with Hollywood star and model who treated him like a ‘piece of meat’
Will Mellor made another surprising admission on the Two Pints with Will and Ralf podcast, this time concerning a one-night stand with Danish model Brigitte Nielsen.
Brigitte was married to Sylvester Stallone for two years in the 1980s. She has worked across TV, film and music, and has had five husbands in total, her most recent being Mattia Dessi, who she married in 2006.
Will had fancied her for years. But when they finally got together, it wasn’t how he’d imagined.
She just buried my head in her boobs and went: ‘Oh look at you!’
“When I met Brigitte Neilsen she came onto me and asked me to go have sex with her in a hotel room,” he told Ralf Little, per The Sun. “Like: ‘Send a driver for him, go and get him!’ Like I was some piece of meat. I was terrified.”
He said he’d fantasised about her coming onto him, but when she finally did, he felt overwhelmed by her height (she’s 6ft tall) and shape (she is well endowed).
“She just buried my head in her boobs and went: ‘Oh look at you,’ like I was some little plaything. It was like: ‘Send him to my hotel, I’ll get rid of him later. I’ll treat him like a tea bag, dip him in once and throw him away.'”
More detail than you bargained for? Welcome to the world of showbiz!
Will Mellor appears on James Martin’s Saturday Morning on ITV1 at 9.30am on March 29.
Read more: Angela Griffin on her hidden ‘power’ in her marriage to famous husband Jason Milligan
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