'I behaved like an eejit' says Cold Feet star

Cold Feet star James Nesbitt has spoken of his remorse over his extra-marital affairs and admitted: “I behaved like an eejit.”

Nesbitt was hit last year by tabloid revelations that he had cheated on his wife Sonia.

The actor, who plays Adam in the TV drama, allegedly enjoyed booze and cocaine-fuelled romps with a legal secretary and an Irish beauty queen.

In an interview with Britain's Radio Times, he said: “I behaved like an eejit. But nobody died and I hope we can all move on.

“My mother has a saying ‘You’re one age all your life’. I’ve always been about 17, which is a bad one to be all your life.

“But I feel that maybe what happened with the tabloids was a watershed. I feel that I’m ready to start the next bit of my life now, to concentrate on what’s important and make sure I don’t piss it all down the drain. Maybe it’s time to grow up.”

Sonia, mother of the couple’s two daughters Peggy, five, and one-year-old Mary, was said to be devastated by the betrayal.

Nesbitt’s family in Northern Ireland were also upset, having just coped with the fallout from his appearance in the controversial drama Bloody Sunday.

The actor received death threats from fellow Protestants for his portrayal of Ivan Cooper, the Protestant MP who led the overwhelmingly Catholic protest, and his parents’ home was daubed with graffiti.

Nesbitt, who grew up in Antrim with three elder sisters, said his parents took the stories of his infidelity hard.

“It was tough for my family. I was the only boy, the perfect boy and then I wasn’t perfect any more. They had just coped so well with all the Bloody Sunday fallout, and then there was this,” he said.

His Cold Feet character Adam became a sex symbol and Nesbitt said he was taking it in his stride.

“I can see why people find me charming,” he said. “A few years ago I’d have said, ‘Me, sexy? Get away with you’, but I’m 37 now. You get to the stage where you acknowledge things.”

The popular ITV1 show ended last month after five series and Nesbitt confessed he would miss co-star Helen Baxendale, who played his wife Rachel.

“We did spend a large part of the last five years lying in bed together. And she’s a great girl,” he said.