As a leading Brexit campaigner who split from two political parties last year, Andrew Bridgen is no stranger to difficult separations.
Now I can reveal that the controversial MP has split from his wife of seven years, the glamorous Serbian opera singer Nevena Bridgen.
The politician – who was expelled from the Conservative Party last year for comparing Covid vaccines to the Holocaust – told me: “I can confirm that Nevena and I live separately.”
He didn't elaborate on the split, saying it had nothing to do with his public life, but said it was “disappointing that my private life deserves newspaper headlines” while his theories about vaccines do not.
Andrew Bridgen (pictured) has separated from his wife of seven years
Nevena Bridgen (pictured) married Andrew in 2017 and the couple have a five-year-old son together
He added: “I will have no further comment.”
Mr Bridgen, 59, highlighted the breakdown by blocking his 43-year-old wife on social media after she made some pointed replies to his tweets. “Ladies and gentlemen, fortune teller and free speech advocate Andrew Bridgen,” she replied sarcastically.
The couple married in 2017 and have a five-year-old son together. Nevena has previously run a wide-ranging blog about politicians' wives and said Westminster was “full of traps and temptations”.
Mr Bridgen – who was briefly in Laurence Fox's Reclaim party after leaving the Tories but resigned in December – was previously married to Jackie, a Tory councilor in his Leicestershire constituency, but they divorced in 2012.
He was also embroiled in a long-running dispute with his family vegetable business, AB Produce, which led to him and Nevena being evicted from their £1.5million home in 2022 after a judge called him “dishonest”, “abusive” and classified as “arrogant”.
Andrew BridgenConservative