Brothel-visit Theakston 'made a mistake' says ex-lover

The Top of the Pops presenter had recently split from Richardson and in an interview published this week she went some way towards defending his behaviour.

‘‘We all make mistakes,’’ she told Company magazine. ‘‘But, at the same time, if you have a job in the public eye, it carries a responsibility with it.’’

Asked how she found out about the incident, she said: ‘‘He told me. The first I knew was not opening the Sunday newspaper.’’

Richardson, 37, said that despite the lurid revelations she was still ‘‘really fond’’ of Theakston.

The pair have been photographed out together in recent weeks with Richardson’s 10-year-old daughter Daisy.

‘‘Jamie’s a good friend of mine. The Jamie I know is an incredibly funny guy - far more intelligent than people realise,’’ she said.

‘‘When you’ve been in this business a while, you learn an element of ‘water off a duck’s back’.’’

The star of 101 Dalmations and Maybe Baby said she was now wary of getting involved with another famous man but wouldn’t rule it out.

‘‘Like I said, you don’t choose who you fall in love with. The ‘celebrity couple’ is an odd thing, but if I fell in love with someone, that would be bigger than whatever reservations I might have,’’ she said.

Richardson and Theakston, 31, split last August, days after Theakston gave an interview describing her as the love of his life.

Four months later he was caught visiting a ‘‘bondage dungeon’’ in Mayfair and failed in a High Court bid to prevent a Sunday newspaper from publishing the story.

He later claimed he was taken there by a minicab driver and left when he realised the girls inside were prostitutes.

Theakston apologised to his friends and family for the embarrassing revelations but said: ‘‘I know it was foolish for me to get into this situation in the first place but I’m not married. I’m a single guy, I haven’t broken the law.’’