About Us ThisisBigBrother.com

Red Moon · 25-11-2007, 12:53 PM

Quote:

I gave magical Cerys my heart..she spat it out

THE devastated ex-hubby of I'm A Celebrity star Cerys Matthews exposes her as a callous home-wrecker who destroyed his family for ever.

American Seth Riddle was head-over-heels in love with the ex-Catatonia singer.

But the News of the World can reveal that she cruelly walked out on him WITHOUT saying goodbye and flew home to Wales with their two children, Glenys Pearl, four, and two-year-old Johnny Jones.

Seth, a photographer, said: "It was the worst day of my life but a perfect example of how headstrong and ruthless she can be.

"I pity any man who gets involved with her. She took my heart and spat it out when she'd had enough of me."

And after watching her shameless jungle flirting with ex-EastEnder Marc Bannerman—the first to be evicted from the ITV1 show—he said: "Unlike how she was with him, Cerys would never cuddle me or show me any affection and that made me feel very unloved."

School

In a searingly honest interview, Seth, 31, revealed: "For most of our four-year marriage I felt like I loved Cerys more than she loved me...if she ever did. I'm very affectionate and enjoy doing romantic things but Cerys couldn't have been more opposite. For the last six months we barely saw each other and our sex life was non-existent."

And recalling the day in February she left he explained: "She told me she was taking the kids to school. But instead she got on a plane and flew back to Wales. She packed no luggage, just bundled the kids in the car and walked out of my life for ever."

Her sudden departure left Seth broken-hearted and contemplating suicide. He said: "She didn't have one ounce of respect for me to even discuss the breakdown of our marriage. She hated our marriage so much she took everything from me without a minute's warning.

"I cried and cried and if it hadn't been for my kids I am not ashamed to say I thought about whether life was worth living."

Seth later learned that cold-hearted Cerys, 38, had secretly planned her escape, talking to divorce lawyers weeks before.

He added: "After she fled she called me from New York and said she'd had enough and wanted a divorce. Unbeknown to me she had already consulted lawyers. My life fell apart and I was so broken I didn't have any fight left in me to refuse."

The pair divorced in October—finally shattering Seth's dreams of a happy family life. But it had all started so differently when they met in July 2002.

Speaking from his home in South Carolina, Seth said: "I loved her with all my heart from the first moment I saw her and I still do today. I thought she was the most smiley, beautiful woman I had ever clapped eyes on.

"Then when she spoke in this amazing soft Welsh accent I was totally bowled over. She was a magical, warm, funny woman."

Back then Cerys had moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to escape the pressure of being the lead singer in Catatonia and her worrying drug habit. Seth continued: "She'd started dabbling in heroin and told me her life had been spiralling out of control. I think she had gone through a long struggle to get clean. But she did appear to have put all that behind her and I never saw her do drugs.

"Our first date was at a bowling alley and when we kissed that night we both knew it was something special. Our relationship quickly became very serious."

In fact Seth proposed just four months later while visiting her family in Pembrokeshire. The couple wed in February 2003 and little Glenys Pearl was born that August.

He smiled: "Neither of us could have been happier and we conceived our first child on the day we got engaged. At that stage it felt like both of our dreams had come true.

"When we exchanged our vows I thought it would be for ever. Cerys seemed to have put her demons behind her and loved touring, playing her music and being a mum."

But soon the cracks started to show. Seth added: "Within months she had turned into a depressed wreck. She started to get very restless. I lost count of the times we would flit between our home in Nashville, her family in Wales and mine in South Carolina.

"Nothing I did pleased her. I'd given up my dream of being a documentary maker to follow her on tour and support her music career.

"But then she started to resent me for not making as much money as she did. She had a way of making me feel very inadequate. I began to feel less of a man and more of a failure.

"But when I tried to talk to her she'd brush me aside and refuse to discuss it. Cerys can be very fiery and the arguments began to get worse. It was like living in a war zone."

Their relationship hit rock bottom after the birth of their son Johnny Jones in 2005.

Seth went on: "Cerys had sunk to an all-time low and acted like she couldn't even bare to be in the same room as me. Last Christmas was the worst of my life. Halfway through the day Cerys just got up, took the children and stormed out without saying why. It was heartbreaking and horrible.

"The past year has been beyond miserable. But I struggle to imagine Cerys ever settling down with anyone. She likes to change things constantly. As time went on she seemed to crave the fame and stardom she had once run away from. I prayed we could sort things out. When you have two children together you can't just give up. But while I was willing to fight to make things work Cerys threw it all away when things got rough."

Seth is now struggling to come to terms with not seeing his children regularly. He said: "Every time I talk to them on the phone my heart breaks a little more. I don't want them growing up hating me as daddy is not around all the time any more."

And he admits he was devastated when Cerys rang him days before going in to the jungle to say she was doing the show—leaving their children to be looked after by her parents in Wales.

He revealed: "Cerys said she was bored and needed something exciting in her life. We divorced in October so it had only been a few weeks. I was shocked she'd even consider the show given all she has put me through."

Snogging

Then came the crushing blow that she had been cosying up to ex-soap star Marc, 34, as millions of viewers saw her gazing into his eyes, cuddling him and draping herself over him as he lay in his hammock.

Seth said: "She acted like a teenage girl, not a mum and I'm not surprised he was voted off first. He overstepped the mark.

"But what worries me more is our children would have been sat in Wales watching their mum snogging some strange man on live television and there's nothing I could do about it."

And, with an air of resignation, he went on: "It's no surprise that Marc was falling for her. On a good day she's one of the most charismatic, beautiful people you'll ever meet. She can walk into a room and have every man falling at her feet—and she knows it. She just has this magical quality about her which is why I fell in love with her the moment I saw her."

But he warned: "She comes across as this fun-loving vulnerable Welsh girl but Cerys also has a very cold, uncaring side."

Regretfully, he added: "I'm not sure I'll ever forgive her for how she left me. Not letting me say goodbye was the most hurtful thing she could have done."

Source: News of the World