Ant McPartlin has confessed the drink drive crash which forced him into rehab infuriated his TV partner Dec Donnelly.
McPartlin, 43, told The Sun “tensions” flared with Donnelly, his best friend, who then presented Saturday Night Takeaway, Britain’s Got Talent and I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here without him.
Speaking about their conversation the day after the crash, he said: “He’s angry, of course he’s angry.
“But it’s justified and I understood it.
“Underneath all of that is love and still is love.
“And that’s what we talked about more than anything.”
He revealed the clash after telling the paper his new girlfriend, Anne-Marie Corbett, who was his personal assistant, has been his “rock”.
McPartlin was fined a record £86,000 and banned from driving for 20 months after he crashed his car in March last year while more than twice the alcohol limit.
He said: “I said to Dec, ‘I just need to take time out and re-evaluate and get better and deal with things going on in my life. It will take as long as it takes’.
“I’m very lucky that I’ve got an understanding business partner and best friend who said, ‘Absolutely, your head is more important than anything’. I had to lock myself away.”
The star returned to work with Donnelly on Britain’s Got Talent on Friday, when he told the audience: “I’m really, really emotional now. I’ve missed you all.”