Great British Bake Off's Prue Leith shares 'grim part of life' after keeping 'dark secret'

Prue Leith has reflected upon a relationship ordeal from her younger years. During an episode of the Rosebud podcast, host Gyles Brandreth reminisced about a dinner in the early 1970s with the Great British Bake Off star.

He found her "very glamorous" and branded her dinner companion, Rayne Kruger, "extremely charming". Brandreth noted the age gap and assumed they were married, but Rayne was, in fact, Prue's "lover", as he was still married to another woman at the time.

Prue confided: "I mean, this is the grim part of my life. Rayne was married to my mother's best friend and she was so wonderful to me. She had been so helpful to me and we lived with them."

She detailed how their intertwined lives included cohabitating in England: "When we came to England, we all lived in the same house and Rayne and Nan (Munro) and their three children and my mum and dad, and Rayne was 20 years older than me, but he was 20 years younger than his wife.

Prue explained Rayne's past: "He had married her after the war when her husband had been killed and she had three tiny children, so he had brought up three of her children."

Describing the complexity of their relationships, she added, "You know, he was 24 bringing up a six year old, a three year old and a one year old, or something. And we were all really, really close and I was staying with them."

Upon further discussion, Gyles questioned if Prue ever used the experience in her writing, prompting Prue to respond: "No, but I did write about it in my autobiography because, I thought, if you..

"You can either keep these things a dark secret all your life, but if you're going to write an autobiography, and I wanted to write a memoir, if you're going to write it, you've got to write the truth, and you've got to write the interesting things."

The presenter delved deeper, questioning whether she felt guilty at the time. Prue admitted that she did, before revealing that her mother "didn't know" and that it had been a secret for 13 years.

Prue confessed she didn't want Rayne to leave Nan, but she "loved him to bits". At the age of 34, Prue decided she had to part ways with Rayne, as she desired to get married and start a family.

She then shared how she ran away with "some guy" she met in a restaurant, although she conceded that she was "absolutely using him". However, she later found out that they were both escaping from relationships.

This turned into a pivotal moment, as Prue and Rayne eventually decided to disclose everything to everyone, including Nan. Yet, Nan's response was unexpectedly positive, as she was "absolutely wonderful", telling Prue that she knew her own relationship wouldn't last with her husband, but if she had five years of happiness, it would be "worth it".

Prue revealed that the late actress understood why she fell in love with her husband, and, according to the Bake Off star, insisted that she got married and that Nan got a divorce, as Prue was pregnant at the time.

Prue first opened up about her lengthy affair in her 2012 autobiography, Relish: My Life on a Plate. She tied the knot with the South African author in 1974 and they stayed together until his passing in 2002 when he was 80.

Prue was 62 at that time but she found love again at the age of 70 when she married fashion designer John Playfair after meeting him at a dinner party, according to the Express.