Holden: 'BGT changed public opinion'

Amanda Holden has claimed that appearing on Britian's Got Talent has changed people's opinions on her.

The ITV1 talent show judge said that the show helped her ditch her image as a "maneater". Holden was famously involved in an affair with Neil Morrissey, while she was married to comic Les Dennis.

Speaking on Sky1 show Angela & Friends, Holden said: "I think doing Britain's Got Talent - you can't hide behind it. That's me. I know I cry all the time, but that's just all the hormones and that's me.

"I am a minx, but people can see that I'm not this man-eating girl that I was portrayed as, when I was married and had an affair and all of that. That gave me really bad form as a person. It was not about who I was, it was about what I had done."

When asked how she got the job on the panel, the actress added: "I think my name just happened to be in the producers' room, because I was supposed to host something else. I heard that Cheryl Cole basically wet her pants and decided that she couldn't do it. [Simon Cowell] told me that wasn't true, but I definitely wasn't first choice."

Britain's Got Talent will return for a fourth series on ITV in 2010.