Declan Donnelly has shared his admiration for presenting partner Ant McPartlin for the work he’s put in since his drink-driving crash.
Police arrested the TV star in March 2018 after he struck a BMW while driving his Mini Cooper near his London home.
He was on his way back from walking his dogs in nearby Richmond Park when the collision occurred.
In addition to hitting the BMW driven by Dr. Audrey Ng, Ant also struck another Mini, which left its four-year-old passenger in need of hospital treatment.
He was later handed an £86,000 fine – a figure thought to be the highest ever dished out for such an offence. He was also issued a 20-month driving ban, which was reduced to 15 months after he completed a drink-driving referral course.
Nearly eight years on, and his I’m A Celebrity! co-star has spoken of his pride in Ant’s progress.
Speaking to The Times, Dec said: ‘What I most admire is that with the challenges he’s faced, especially over the last few years, Ant took responsibility and real action.
‘He worked on himself so much to get back not just to being himself but actually being a much better person than he was before.’
Ant’s car crash came in the wake of his split from wife Lisa Armstrong, to whom he had been married for 11 years.
Prior to the crash, he had also been seeking treatment for an addiction to alcohol and painkillers – including a 2017 stint in rehab.
Ant said outside Wimbledon Magistrates Court in 2018: ‘I just want to say I’m truly sorry for what happened. Higher standards are expected of me, I expect them of myself. I let myself down, I let a lot of people down, and for that I’m truly sorry.
‘I would like to apologise to everyone involved in the crash and I’m just thankful nobody was seriously hurt.’
After pleading guilty to drink driving, he cancelled all of his television commitments, and entered residential rehab for a second time.
After leaving Holly Willoughby to present the 2018 series of I’m A Celebrity in his stead (and with Dec leading two episodes of Saturday Night Takeaway alone), he returned to the screen in 2019, for that year’s series of Britain’s Got Talent.
In 2021, Ant married former personal assistant Anne-Marie Corbett, with whom he welcomed their first child together in 2024.
Meanwhile, Dec previously shared how he’d considered ending their professional partnership after the crash – calling Ant’s actions ‘indefensible’ at the time.
Dec told The Guardian: ‘How could he do that? I wanted to punch him and hug him at the same time – and I didn’t know which one I wanted to do first.’
‘It wasn’t until I’d gone away and rested that it kicked in. I was having sleepless nights. The shame and guilt were horrendous. Whatever state I’m in, drink-driving is an inexcusable act,’ Ant added.
The pair have both come under fire this week after sparking outrage with an advertisement for their new podcast, Hanging Out With Ant and Dec.
In the promotional video, only the pair’s feet are seen at first, dangling above the ground as Dec’s voice asks: ‘Did you agree to this?’
‘No, I thought this was your idea,’ Ant responds, as the video cuts to a shot of his own trainer-clad feet.
‘This is not what we meant by ‘hanging out,’ Dec continues, before the camera reveals them both pegged to a clothesline, and fully suspended above the ground.
To many, the imagery which this evoked was deeply ‘triggering,’ with former X Factor star Katie Waissel describing it as ‘sickening and deeply disappointing.’
‘This opening visual of feet suspended above the ground is not a harmless ‘play on words’, it immediately reads as someone hanging, and the suicide imagery is impossible to ignore,’ she wrote on X.
She continued: ‘With a platform as large as yours, there is a clear duty to act responsibly. This is entirely foreseeable harm.
‘It’s triggering, insensitive, and frankly reckless to push out as ‘entertainment’ when so many families have been devastated by suicide and self-harm.’
In a statement issued to Metro, Ant and Dec apologised for any offence caused, while confirming that the post had been taken down.
‘We did not mean to cause any offence with this promo video and we are sorry if it has upset anyone. We have taken on board the comments and have deleted the video,’ the pair’s statement read.
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