Married ‘Take That’ star admits to 10 affairs, long term relationship on the side

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This is UK-specific news, and it’s pretty good gossip even if we’re not familiar with the players. A couple of weeks ago, we heard that British celebrity Cheryl Cole was splitting from her husband of three and a half years, soccer (football) star Ashley Cole, after Ashley catted around Tiger-style with a bunch of women on the side. Now there’s news of another infidelity scandal across the pond. Pop singer Mark Owen of Take That has admitted to sleeping with at least 10 other women while in a relationship with his now-wife and the mother of his two children. Most of the affairs were with groupies, but at least one was with a long term mistress on the side who looks like a budget version of his wife. (The Sun has her photo.) Owen confessed all this in a long interview with The Sun, and blamed his behavior on his alcoholism. He’s supposedly revealing all these details in an attempt to make it up to his wife, but he should be telling this to a therapist or a friend and saving her the shame. Of course he also adds that he was having trouble with his wife at the time, as if that at all excuses his behavior.

This interview is long and involved, but the gist is that Owen, 38, and his wife, an actress named Emma Ferguson (I can’t find her age), were married in October, 2009 and have been together five years. They have two children together, a son Elwood, three, and daughter Willow Rose, one. Owen claims that he stopped cheating on Emma after they were married, but admits that he did sleep with his mistress just one week after his daughter Willow was born. Here’s some of what he said, with more at The Sun:

MARRIED Take That star Mark Owen last night sensationally confessed to having TEN affairs.
The “squeaky clean” singer opened his heart to The Sun in a bid to wipe the slate clean and start afresh with his wife Emma.

Mark, 38, broke the news of his cheating to Emma, mum of their two kids, at their London home yesterday.

He said: “She loves me and I let her down. I’m really sorry.”

The multi-millionaire singer blamed a long battle with booze for his two-timing, which will shock millions of the chart-topping band’s adoring fans.

And he told The Sun: “I have been an idiot, a d***head, a k***head. All of the above and more.

“It’s about me, my mistakes. Nobody else is to blame.”

Mark had all ten flings AFTER he started dating Emma five years ago.

The pair were an item long before they finally married in a Scottish castle last October, watched by smiling bandmates Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Jason Orange.
And they have two children – Elwood, three, and Willow Rose, one.

One of Mark’s affairs – with accounts manager Neva Hanley, 24 – carried on for the best part of five years.

The others were drunken one-night stands with girls while Take That were on tour.

Mark said: “I don’t know how many girls there were in all. Maybe ten.”

Yesterday he admitted everything to unsuspecting Emma as he tried desperately to draw a line under his betrayal and forge a new beginning with her.

The star – who insists he has been faithful to Emma since their wedding – said:

I have been living with the guilt. It has always been there – you carry it around with you.

It held me back in my relationship with Emma. I wouldn’t have done any of this if I had my time again.

[From The Sun]

I’m wondering why exactly this guy is confessing all this to The Sun. He admitted telling his wife, she undoubtedly flipped out, and it seems like he’s trying to come clean in an attempt to win her back. It’s a piss poor way to make it up to her, by making the details public. Also, I doubt he slept with only 10 women on tour. He’s making the number low to make it sound like he wasn’t getting laid in every port. You might know this line from Take That’s big hit “Whatever I said, whatever I did I didn’t mean it. I just want you back for good.” (Hat tip to a commenter on The Daily Mail for reminding me of that one.) I hope this asinine strategy doesn’t work for him. Getting wasted does not excuse ending up in bed with random women, or carrying on with one on the side during basically your entire relationship with your children’s mother!

Photos are of Mark and Emma on 10/20/09 (above) and below on 10/3/07. Credit: WENN.com

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24 Responses to “Married ‘Take That’ star admits to 10 affairs, long term relationship on the side”

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  1. DoMaJoReMc says:

    Geeeez! What IS it with these guys who can’t seem to appreciate the women they have at home? For goodness sake, DON’T GET MARRIED! I would think it’s simple.

  2. Ursula says:

    what a tool, relationships never survive such bull.

  3. Lara says:

    I think he was confessing as the long term affir lady was going to do a kiss and tell so he got in first. I can’t believe Mark Owen would do such a thing! He was on my bedroom wall as a kid and my first big crush.

  4. dread pirate cuervo says:

    What is a k***head?

  5. Sadie says:

    I am in shock. I spent my entire childhood being in love with him. And I was convinced, 100% that he was an amazingly nice person.

  6. scorpiogal says:

    ha ha @ Dread Pirate- I was stuck on k***head too…I can’t figure it out!

    As for all the unfaithful men coming out of the woodwork lately- I would say that’s an indication that serial infidelity is far more common than any of us want to believe.

  7. Erin says:

    Douche! And really, ELWOOD?

  8. snowball says:

    His head looks like it’s made of Silly Putty.

    I’m with you dpc – what the heck is a k***head?

  9. Lara says:

    K***head = Knob head!

    Another British slang word for dick head!

  10. Jazz says:

    Meh, was never a fan. I was more of an East 17 girl myself.

  11. Maddie says:

    As hurtful as it is this confession he owe to his wife, she has the right to know who she is married too.

    She also has a right to know if she has been exposed to any STD, when Aids first broke out don’t forget how many women dies because their husbands or boyfriends were out catting around with men/women or just using.

    Every person has a right to know who is sleeping next to them at night.

    But he is an a**, really like I said before if you can not keep it in your pants for your significant other than don’t get married or involves kids that will be shuttle from one house to the other, it’s not fair to them.

  12. Sudini says:

    Sorry, but he’s just NOT attractive at ALL.

    How is it that:

    A. these idiots seem to think it’s OK to lie to and cheat on the people who’ve devoted their lives to them?

    B. So many of these idiots are so g*ddamn ugly and ungrateful for the beautiful women who made the mistake of loving them? (as DoMa already pointed out)

    I really, really hope it falls off.

  13. Wench. says:

    “He’s just not attractive at all”?

    GET BACK IN YOUR BOX!

    Oh man, I used to love Take That something chronic; Mark Owen being The Man for me. I’m so gutted. He seemed as cute as a button! Also, I totally didn’t know about the alcoholism.

    Woe.

  14. Sudini says:

    Uh…maybe he used to be attractive – honestly this is the first time I’ve seen him, much less even HEARD of him.

    Regardless, he’s another total dirtbag who didn’t seem to think the rules of common decency and trust applied to him and he clearly bought all of his own hype.

  15. Jeane says:

    …want you back, want you back, want baaack for gooood…

  16. Meow Mix says:

    As someone who has been cheated on I can understand the public apology. It puts it out in the open. You always wonder who knew what you didn’t.

    He’s still an ass though.

  17. feather blue says:

    k***head = knob + head
    where knob = penis

    british slang and british maths! it’s actually not very strong swearing, it’s about as bad as douche.

    it baffles me how quick people are to get on their moral high-horse when it comes to celebrities and their sexual proclivities and peccadilloes when they can’t apply the same standards in their own lives- perhaps people in the real world don’t have sex outside their marriages… or have drug-fuelled sex romps… or indulge in risky sex-practices. i hate the promotion of the kiss and tell culture and the tabloid’s tributes to suburban sluttishness.

    i’m wondering if i’m the only one who is glad that mark owen beat the 10 girls to the chase- i’m sick to death of the skanky whores that just want to sell a story, who then go on to appear on “celebrity” reality shows.

  18. Chana says:

    What is with celebrities and not respecting marriage? Don’t get married if you don’t plan on being loyal to your significant other, that’s it, case closed.

    I don’t cheat on people, ever. It’s a disgusting, despicable practice that erodes the trust in your relationship down to the nib and then plucks the nib off and tosses it in the bin.

    I can’t deal with cheaters-men and women who cheat, especially with married people, are SCUM. The lowest of the low.

  19. Mairead says:

    Now – I’m not one to get surprised about cheating stories, we know about celebs, but it’s just as prevalent in normal life too.

    But I was a little surprised by this one. He always seemed nice and a fairly decent fella. And for those who don’t know him – he’s fairly teeny, but he was the cutest wee thing.

  20. Ana says:

    In regard to why he agreed to do this story, I personally think:

    Normally people admit this stuff to the British tabloids when they threaten to tell the story anyway. I remember that also happened when Stephen Gately admitted he was gay. The paper collects enough evidence then says ‘we’re gonna tell this story with or without you’, so it makes sense for them to be involved otherwise the paper can make it sound a lot worse. Especially the tabloids, imagine otherwise it would have been ‘disgusting love rat Mark Owen cheats with slags while pregnant wife lay in hospital’, yknow how they exagerrate! This way he at least gets to show some remorse, and they probably sell more copies if the star is actually involved.

  21. Confuzzle says:

    Did he marry his sister? In that first photo they look almost identical. Creepy.

  22. Mel says:

    Celebitchy do your research. He confessed because a kiss and tell was on its way.

    Mark’s always been in the cute one in the band, very popular. I heard millions of hearts break across the UK today. This scandal is very unexpected, he always comes across as a lovely guy. I’m disappointed and very sad for his wife and lovely kids.

  23. glowkey says:

    Wow, so he thinks it’s noteworthy to point out that he’s been faithful since they married? That was only 5 months ago…not at all relevant if he’s been catting around for years.

  24. TG says:

    I’m not British, though I love British people and there delightful senses of humor about themselves, but I have never heard of this guy and he looks gay.