James Cracknell has opened up about the breakdown of his marriage accusing his ex-wife of "chipping away" at his confidence after he suffered brain damage in a horrific cycling accident.
The Olympic rower, who recently married his second wife Jordan Connell, split from ex Beverley Turner in 2019 following 17 years of marriage and three children together.
In 2010, the double Olympic gold medalist was involved in a horrifying accident when he was knocked off his bike by a lorry travelling at 60mph when he was cycling in Arizona.
His relationship with Beverley was impacted as he suffered a brain injury which left him with a changed personality, short temper and epilepsy.
The marriage subsequently broke down and they went on to divorce.
Appearing on Channel 4 show C elebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins, James opened up about the split and claimed his confidence was severely impacted.
"The assumption of having had a serious brain injury is that that then defines the rest of my life and 'you won't be able to do that, you won't be able to do this'," the 49-year-old former sports star said.
"My wife, well now ex-wife - she is an amazing woman and an amazing mother - but she always viewed me through the prism of that incident.
"For someone who you love unconditionally to chip away at your confidence and then me not to reach out to mates and hide away, you're left thinking... the worst things about yourself.
"I've really struggled."
James and Beverley wrote about the athlete's recovery in his book, Touching Distance which was published in 2012.
The former couple announced their separation seven years later in April 2019.
Former Strictly Come Dancing contestant James tied the knot for a second time earlier this year.
In August 2021, the rowing champion and fiancée Jordan Connell became husband and wife after 17 months together.
The dad-of-three married the American financier with family and friends present in a ceremony in Chelsea.
Ex-wife Beverley shared her thoughts on seeing her former husband remarry with her fans on social media.
"It's a strange day today, my ex-husband got married today - which is quite a strange thing to say and I thought I was going to be totally OK with it, and I am OK with it," the presenter told her followers on the day of James and Jordan's wedding.
"I'm happier now than I have been for many years and I know James is happier now than he has been for many years - and a big part of that is Jordan, his wife.
"But it also made me quite pensive and I couldn't quite work out why."
She added: "You never get married thinking you're going to get divorced and although the kids are great and I have a new partner who is amazing with them and in many ways they are lively, resilient children.
"You never have divorced parents as something that you're totally fine with. I just wanted to say that, but the other thing, I know that lots of people who are part of the brain injury world do follow me, even if you are in the darkest bits of those journeys - which you might be now - you do see the sun again at some point.
"And although it never really leaves you, the impact never really leaves a family, I've been thinking about James's parents today as well."
The star, who is now in a relationship with James Pritchett, also shared some words and pictures on Twitter as she continued to wish he ex well.
"Huge congratulations from us both to @jamescracknell who gets married today to a wonderful woman who makes him happy," the mum-of-three wrote.
"Marriage, brain injury and divorce was never Plan A. But to anyone currently in the dark, the sun WILL come out again one day."
