Van Outen: 'Radio slot left me exhausted'

Denise Van Outen has blamed "exhaustion" for her departure from Capital 95.8.

The TV personality announced that she was quitting her breakfast show earlier this month. She had presented the slot alongside her former Big Breakfast co-host Johnny Vaughan since February.

Van Outen has now admitted that her work on the show had started to affect her relationship with stage star Lee Mead, who she met on the set of Any Dream Will Do in 2007.

"The most ridiculous article said I was leaving because Johnny was smelly," Van Outen told the Daily Mail. "I left because I was getting stressed. I wasn't sleeping properly and it was affecting my personal life. My relationship with Lee wasn't under strain, but it wasn't being allowed to grow. We'd courted and we wanted to move on. But you can't do that if you've never got time to see each other.

"I was getting up at 4am every morning. Lee finishes at 11pm, so it would never work. We tried. He'd stay over or I'd go to his, but he'd be wide awake after each show, buzzing with adrenaline, and the last thing he wanted to do was go straight to sleep. And I'd be saying, 'Shut up and turn the light out.' I was exhausted. My schedule was crazy."

Lisa Snowdon was named as Van Outen's replacement earlier this week.