Amanda Owen has revealed working on Our Yorkshire Farm significantly contributed to her marriage breakdown.
Over four years, between 2018 and 2022, shepherdess Amanda and her sheep farmer husband Clive were followed by cameras for the observational Channel 5 series.
However, after the couple, who share nine children, announced they were divorcing, it was confirmed the show was ending.
Two years on, the former couple, who have a 19-year age gap, have each spoken about how the pressure of becoming TV stars led to strain on their marriage.
Amanda explained how she had been looking for other ways to ‘earn money’ before their farm was first featured on ITV’s The Dales in 2011.
As the show started taking off, Amanda was inundated with offers going on to write five books and make other TV and public appearances.
Determined not to ‘let any opportunities pass me by’, Amanda said she was ‘very focused’ on putting down roots for her family and earning enough so they could own their own home.
However, as she started attending more events and spent time away from the farm, Amanda said it started to ‘annoy’ her husband.
‘Clive never liked me being away from the farm, and that led to arguments. I would return home not knowing what to expect or what his reaction would be. I’d feel the tension in the air and await the explosion,’ she has written in a piece for the Daily Mail.
‘The more Clive shut me out or put me down, the more I tried to overcompensate. Instead of staying over at an event that was a five-hour drive from the farm, I would drive back, doing the family shop en route at 1am in a 24-hour Tesco, so I could show him I was committed to providing on all levels.’
However, Amanda said she quickly became ‘exhausted’ and started spending more time away from the farm and Clive.
Also writing about the end of their marriage, Clive admitted he hadn’t anticipated how popular the show would get and ‘how much of Amanda’s time would be taken up with promoting the shows, giving talks, book signings and the like’.
‘I felt like I’d been left behind,’ he explained.
Clive also said it was difficult to reckon with the fact he was ‘no longer the breadwinner’ for their family and he faced ‘insecurity’ and also began ‘resenting’ her success.
‘I’m not proud of my behaviour back then. I was awful to Amanda and, looking back, I think that my own depression had a part to play,’ he continued, adding he was ‘angry and turned to drinking a lot of whiskey to cope’.
‘Anger and resentment ate away at me. I know she dreaded coming home because she knew what was coming and that I would start a fight,’ he added.
He went on to take responsibility for their split, saying his anger ‘drove Amanda away’.
The former couple also referenced Amanda’s romance with their friend Rob Davies, 72, which was made public last year.
Despite Rob’s estranged wife claiming last year the pair engaged in an affair, Amanda and Clive shut down these claims, even revealing he’d told his wife they would be a ‘good match’.
However, Amanda said that her and Rob were ‘no longer together or in touch’.
The pair also revealed that their TV show ‘wasn’t axed’ and they ‘could have continued if they wanted’, but the changing circumstances of their lives saw them decide to walk away.
They are also now working on a ‘brand new TV series which follows our journey restoring a derelict farmhouse we’ve bought and exploring its history’.
Our Yorkshire Farm is streaming on Channel 5.
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