Actress Rula Lenska has opened up about her difficult marriage to Dennis Waterman. (Image: Getty)
Actress Rula Lenska has opened up about her difficult marriage to Dennis Waterman and says she regrets not having closure before his death in 2022 aged 74.
The star, who turns 77 tomorrow, has been married twice, first to Brian Deacon, with whom she had a daughter, Lara, now 43, and then to Waterman after meeting him on the set of Minder in 1982. It was a volatile relationship and shortly after it ended in 1998, Rula admitted that he’d occasionally hit her when he was very drunk.
Waterman denied it for years until he finally confirmed it in 2012, during a TV interview.
And Rula says she would have liked to make peace with The Sweeney actor before his death from cancer.
“I wish I’d had a chance at closure with Dennis,” she said. “Ten out of the 16 years we were together were the best of my life. For those years it was a wonderful marriage, there was affection, warmth, travel and adventure. When it was good it was magnificent. He was a gentle man, probably the most romantic I’ve ever known.
“It descended into anger and vitriol because of infidelity and alcohol – his, not mine. He was only aggressive when he was drunk. He was a huge part of my life and it feels like unfinished business.
“He wasn’t a bad person, I’d never have married a bad person. Life and people are complicated – we all have our good and bad sides, and with Dennis the good outweighed the bad.”
Rula is now surrounded by friends including Dame Maureen Lipman, with whom she shared a flat while in . Dame Maureen, 78, will be there when Rula hosts a private viewing on Tuesday for celebrated wildlife artist Gary Hodges.
His exquisite drawings are being auctioned for the Born Free Foundation – a charity close to the Rock Follies star’s heart.
Rula said: “One of his drawings is the first thing I see every morning, so I start every day feeling uplifted. Animals are magnificent. They have as much right to freedom and compassion as humans.”
For details on Gary Hodges’ exhibition, and tickets for the star-studded private view in London, please go to www.drawnfromtheheart.co.uk