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Great British Bake Off star Paul Hollywood was a family man when the series started more than a decade ago. But fame and fortune seem to have changed him and made his love life extremely messy.

Paul Hollywood of 'The Great British Baking Show'
Paul Hollywood of ‘The Great British Baking Show’ | Mark Bourdillion/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images

The ‘GBBO’ judge Paul Hollywood was thought to have a near-perfect marriage

According to The Mirror, Hollywood was a devoted family man and faithful Christian before he became a judge on GBBO. The baker loved making delicious treats for his beloved wife Alex.  They loved taking walks with their son Joshua, playing Monopoly, and snuggling by the fire.

Paul and Alex fell in love quickly when they first met at a luxury hotel in Cyprus. He was the head baker and she was a scuba diving instructor, and she says the romance blossomed quickly.

“We fell in love very quickly. Two weeks was all it took — we both knew,” Alex said. “Paul was lovely, he made me the most wonderful pastries for breakfast.”

Paul Hollywood’s TV career was his wife’s idea

The couple married two years after they met and moved back to the UK in 1999 before their son Josh arrived in 2001. It was actually Alex who first had the idea that her baker husband should give TV a try after watching Jamie Oliver’s Naked Chef.

Paul got his break when a TV crew unexpectedly visited a hotel where he and Alex worked to make a show about Cypriot food. Alex told the crew that Paul would be perfect for the show, and that resulted in a screen test.

“They put him in front of a camera and you could just see how brilliant he was. He dominated the screen,” Alex recalled. “After they had finished filming, the production team said to me: ‘He needs to go back to the UK and get an agent.'”

The American version of ‘GBBO’ led to infidelity

Paul landed the gig and went on to write a best-selling cookbook 100 Great Breads. That led to The Great British Bake Off, which made him a star. It also transformed the family man into a “silver fox” and won him thousands of female fans. Despite his newfound status as a sex symbol, Alex trusted her husband completely.

“I felt very secure with Paul, I trusted him completely. I loved him and he loved me. We were happy and life was good,” Alex said in 2013.

But it was then that Paul flew to the US to shoot the American version of GBBO. And he had an affair with his fellow judge and TV chef Marcela Valladolid. Paul later called the affair the biggest mistake of his life. He moved out of the family home, but a few months later he and Alex reconciled.

Paul and Alex Hollywood divorced in 2017

Even though Paul and Alex tried to make it work, they called it quits for good in 2017 after 20 years of marriage. When they split, it was revealed that Paul had been spending money on lavish gifts for TV baker Molly Robbins, 24.

Just a few months after his split from Alex, Paul started dating 23-year-old barmaid Summer Monteys-Fullam. A woman 29 years his junior.

“In the last few months, Alex had completely given up on their relationship. The trust was totally gone. She just didn’t want to make it work anymore,” a source dished at the time. “She feels fame has changed him. He’s not the same man she fell for all those years ago.”

The ‘GBBO’ judge sparked more romance rumors

Paul and Summer’s relationship lasted two years. It fell apart when he allegedly asked her to sign an NDA to make sure she wouldn’t talk about their romance. She was reportedly expecting a proposal.

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Paul Hollywood’s Ex-Wife Once Revealed Why She Took the ‘GBBO’ Judge Back After His Very Public Affair

After Paul and Summer called it quits, he moved to date a woman named Melissa Spalding. According to The Metro UK, Paul and Melissa sparked romance rumors in late 2019 when they were spotted together at a five-star hotel in Cyprus. It was the exact same hotel where Paul met his wife Alex decades earlier.

The Great British Bake Off is available on Netflix.