Peep Show star Matt King reveals split from wife after 30 years together
Peep Show star Matt King has revealed he split from his wife after 30 years together and threw himself into writing a book about his character Super Hans to cope with the breakdown of their marriage.
Matt King has revealed he has split from his wife after three decades together.
The Peep Show actor, 58, has admitted he used writing a book about his famous character Super Hans as an escape from his personal troubles as his 30-year marriage came to an end.
Speaking on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast, Matt explained how writing Moreish: My Mad Autobiography helped him escape his personal troubles.
He said: "I wrote it in sort of quite intense bursts. When I first started writing, maybe 18 to 20 months ago, I guess, I wrote a lot in one hit.
"I was going through a separation, divorce with my missus of 30 years at the time. And so threw myself into this."
The comedian admitted immersing himself in the fictional world of Super Hans provided a distraction from his marriage troubles.
He continued: "I was happy to be going into his world and to be staying in his world. And I was spending as much time as I could writing and not really wanting to go back out into that bit behind me where all the real stuff was happening.
"I think it sort of helped me go into these bubbles where I was able to completely cut myself off from.
"But then, you know, you've got to come out of character. You've got two kids."
Matt has largely kept his marriage out of the spotlight and has not publicly revealed the reason behind the split.
The actor shares a 22-year-old son and a 17-year-old daughter with his former partner.
In September, he told The Guardian how his children had discovered the enduring popularity of Peep Show among a younger generation.
His daughter had returned home from school after realising her classmates were watching the sitcom, while his son had experienced something similar.
The revelation about Matt's marriage comes after the TV star suffered a rare spinal stroke in April, which initially left him paralysed from the neck down.
He was rushed to hospital after waking up on the floor of his home unable to move and subsequently faced a lengthy recovery.
Matt spent two weeks in hospital and has had to relearn how to walk and write, while also struggling with his speech and memory.
The actor has since found love again and credited his new partner with helping him through his health battle.
He previously told The Guardian: "You have to have a very patient and understanding partner, which I'm lucky enough to have, who's just been incredible throughout the whole thing."
Matt added: "Without her, I don't really know how I would have got through this whole thing, because there's so much stuff you can't do for yourself when you come out of hospital."
The comedian played Super Hans throughout the nine-series run of Peep Show, which starred David Mitchell and Robert Webb and aired on Channel 4 between 2003 and 2015.
His new book, Moreish: My Mad Autobiography, sees him return to the outrageous character who made him a cult television favourite.
