The Britain's Got Talent judge had a 5-week fling with co-actor Neil Morrisey in 2000, during her marriage to comedian Les Dennis.
Holden, then 29, and Dennis, then 45, divorced after news of the affair emerged.
Speaking about what she refers to as 'the darkest period in my life', 42-year-old Holden has defended the Men Behaving Badly star over their affair, which started when they co-starred in BBC drama Happy Birthday Shakespeare.
‘I don’t believe women have affairs for no reason,’ she said.
‘Women don’t seek sex – we seek love and affirmation. If a woman has an affair, there is normally a problem in their marriage. Neil rightly or wrongly got loads of stick.
‘I feel like it was my fault – I was the one who was married.
‘I want to change the general perception of him, as he was very caring and very loving and very worried about me because I lost so much weight. He used to cook for me and look after me and babysit the dogs.’
‘Our relationship continued longer than it would have done had we not been so in the public eye, because we had no one else to turn to,’ she concluded.
Speaking about the public backlash which ensued, she admits:
‘I found the fall from grace incredibly hard to deal with,’ she said. ‘I can’t bear not to be liked. Then I had an affair and overnight turned into this awful person.'
Holden is now married to husband of 5 years and music producer Chris Hughes, 59.
The couple have daughters Alexis, 7 and 1-year-old Holly.