Comic admits 'dysfunctional' behaviour after his marriage breakdown

Marcus Brigstocke has told of how he became addicted to porn after cheating on his wife.

The comedian – who has previously spoken honestly about his drug and alcohol addiction in his youth – said his infidelity was ‘the most hurtful, chaotic, devastating thing I could think of’.

And he said that the breakdown of his relationship led to him ‘falling into a hole… of dysfunctional behaviour’, such as watching hours of pornography, which he considered ‘a normal amount'

Brigstocke - who has been married to fellow comedian Rachel Parris since 2019 added that getting over his addition was a huge relief.

The stand-up was married to Sophie Prideaux from 2001 until 2013 and have two children together. But the couple split after she discovered he had been cheating with Coronation Street actress Hayley Tamaddon when they toured together in musical Spamalot.

Speaking to Ben Branson on The Hidden 20% neurodiversity podcast, Brigstocke said: ‘I did the most hurtful, chaotic, devastating thing I could think of, I had an affair which ended my marriage and there was two kids in the mix.

‘The amount of shame I carried with that was huge… I carried the mess of that around with me, and it had led to a lot of very dysfunctional behaviour that I was in denial about. 

‘So I'd stayed sober from drugs, alcohol, and my compulsive eating disorder, but I had become addicted to porn, I really had no idea that I was addicted to it. I sort of thought I looked at a normal amount of porn.’

He said that porn ‘is the most toxic’ addiction and is ‘changing an awful lot of young men’ given how freely available it is online

 ‘Addicts now who have a porn addiction, most of them were addicted from about the age of 11 to something that no one knows about, that changes your brain chemistry,’ he said.

Published: 31 Oct 2024