Cheyne: 'Lenny, Dawn split not my fault'

The woman who shot to notoriety for spending the night with Lenny Henry in 1999 has denied any responsibility for his recent marital breakdown.

Meredith Cheyne, 37, claims that it was her life which was most affected by the incident, which happened more than a decade ago while Henry was touring with his one-man comedy show.

In her autobiography Dear Fatty, French wrote that her marriage was 'buffeted by a tornado' when the episode was revealed in the media.

However Cheyne, who now lives in Australia, told The Mail On Sunday: "It is nothing to do with me. If it was, their marriage would have broken up back then.

"I have not laid eyes on him [since their night together]. I haven't heard a peep. At the time, I was a bit angry and disappointed about that because he knew what it was like to be besieged by the press. If I saw him now, I wouldn't know whether to throw up or faint. It is such bad memories, and it does not go away."

Cheyne continued to insist that she did not even kiss, let alone have sex, with Henry, then 40. "I can’t say I have regrets because there is nothing to regret," she said.