Stephen Hendry is one of the most successful snooker players of all time, having dominated the sport in the 1990s with his impressive victory streak. Hendry has previously won seven world titles, one of which he won aged 21 – making him the youngest ever world champion, a record he still holds today. One week on from his appearance on Pointless Celebrities, Express.co.uk takes a look at the snooker king’s autobiography, where the world champ revealed his torment over ending his marriage after falling in love with someone else.
Snooker legend Mr Hendry has shared his feelings of intense guilt over leaving his ex-wife, to whom he was with for 30 years and married for 19 of those.
Mr Hendry, 50, left Amanada, 50, in 2014 and moved to England to pursue a relationship with 26-year-old entertainer and actress Lauren Thundow, whom he had met at a snooker event the previous year.
In his autobiography Me and The Table, the snooker star told of how he fell for Miss Thundow at a snooker event where she sold merchandise.
But the split from his wife was not easy, and admitted some friends had said he “could have a bit of fun on the side and just not say anything” – but Hendry knew that was the wrong thing to do.
Stephen Hendry: Seven-time snooker world champion winner Stephen Hendry shares his pain over affair (Image: GETTY)
He said: “I know I can’t be this way. I couldn’t live with the guilt.
“Besides, the feelings I have for Lauren aren’t going to just disappear. They’re too strong, and she feels the same way.”
He added revealing to his sons Blaine and Carter that he and wife Amanda were separating made his feel like the “worst person in the world”.
Within the book, Mr Hendry shares the emotional moment when he told his wife that he was leaving her.
Stephen Hendry: Snooker star Stephen Hendry with Lauren Thunder (Image: GETTY)
He wrote: “Driving back from a shopping trip, my wife Mandy asks me what’s wrong.
“She assumes it’s money-related. I tell her it isn’t.
“Then she tells me to stop the car, saying that we’re not going an inch further until I tell her what’s going on.
“So I do. I tell her that I have feelings for someone else. She is shocked and devastated.
Stephen Hendry: Snooker legend Stephen Hendry was on Pointless Celebrities on Friday, May 10 (Image: BBC)
“It’s the last thing she expected me to say. She knows me well enough to know that other women have never been my thing.
“We drive home in a fog of bewilderment but we don’t tell the children.
“There are tears and conversations late into the evening. Mandy informs me she wants me to move out until we’ve sorted things.
“I stay with friends and family while Mandy and I attempt to patch up our marriage. We agree to give it another go.
“I’m riddled with guilt about the whole thing but I’m also in love with someone else.”
Stephen Hendry: Snooker star with ex-wife Amanda (Image: GETTY)
Mr Hendry has been with the woman he left his family for ever since.
He also explained how his relationship started and developed with Miss Thundow, from first meeting her to gradually getting to know her to falling in love and realising that he loved a woman 20 years his junior.
He wrote of the experience: “After a while we realise we’re falling in love.
“That’s very unsettling. I am married to the woman I’ve been with for almost 30 years.
Stephen Hendry: Snooker legend with Lauren Thundow, his girlfriend of four years (Image: GETTY)
“We have two amazing boys and a great lifestyle.
“Lauren is single and 20 years younger than me. I have no wish to hurt Mandy.
“Yet I can’t help the way I’m feeling and I’m beginning to wonder whether my marriage is over. It’s a very confusing and troubling sensation.”
After his marriage ended, the snooker champion decided to leave Scotland completely and is offered use of a flat in Liverpool for a few months, which is where he moves to in January 14.
Stephen Hendry: The snooker legend released his autobiography at the end of last year (Image: GETTY)
Mr Hendry reports he was “a virtual recluse” for two months after his split with Amanda.
And he wrote that despite the pain and torment of his predicament, and the fact that it was “the hardest decision” of his life, he knew he had “done the right thing”
He shares details on the three years between when he left his wife and when the divorce was finalised, describing them as “the most stressful of my life”.
But the snooker legend admitted while he is still very happy with Lauren Thnundow, he does have regrets in regards to his sons.
Stephen Hendry: Snooker star Stephen Hendry had been with his former wife Amanda for 30 years (Image: GETTY)
He said: “If I have regrets it’s around my sons. There is no doubt they were affected by the divorce, Carter more than Blaine, I think.
“When I see them they seem fine, but it’s hard to know how they’re really feeling. I’m very proud of them. They’re amazing, polite and well-mannered boys.
“Mandy is a very good mother to them and I know they’re happy at home but I’m sorry I don’t see them as often as I’d like as they grow up.
“I hope in the future I’ll have a closer relationship with them both.”