Denise Van Outen cuddled ex-Big Breakfast co-star Johnny Vaughan as they reunited to shoot Celebrity Gogglebox on Instagram on Monday.
Denise, 52, could be seen throwing her arms around Johnny as she leaped in the air.
The Big Breakfast TV show originally broadcast on Channel 4 from 1992 to 2002. It returned for a brief revival series in 2021 and 2022.
Denise and Johnny endured something of a 23-year feud following a contract dispute but patched things up back in 2021 and made their first TV appearance in 20 years on Steph’s Packed Lunch in June 2023.
Denise admitted that while she had a ‘rocky relationship’ with broadcaster Johnny in the past, the pair reconciled during the nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
Tensions between the hosts – who fronted the Channel 4 programme from September 1997 until January 2001 – grew as TOWIE narrator Denise claimed he went behind her back to renegotiate his contract.
Denise Van Outen cuddled ex-Big Breakfast co-star Johnny Vaughan as they reunited to shoot Celebrity Gogglebox on Instagram on Monday after ending 20-year feud
Tensions between the hosts grew as TOWIE narrator Denise claimed he went behind her back to renegotiate his contract
On mending their differences, the actress said at the time: ‘Johnny and I have had a bit of a rocky relationship over the years for various reasons and, funnily enough, we’ve messaged a lot in lockdown.
‘These situations make you reflect and realise some of the silly niggles and arguments you have are just not worth it.’
Denise also addressed the past tensions in an interview with Loose Women back in 2017.
She revealed at the time: ‘I had a big fallout with Johnny Vaughan when we worked on The Big Breakfast and at that time we were like brother and sister. We were best friends, unbreakable.
‘The whole relationship fell apart when we started to renegotiate our contracts because I always felt we worked together as a team and that’s how it should be. We created it together.
‘Not just us but the rest of the team working on the show. I always had that mentality that it was about all of us. But Johnny and I know there are other influences involved, and agents and everything — but he was negotiating separately from me.
‘I found out and obviously confronted him and I realised then at that point that our friendship had gone in two different directions and for me it was tarnished. That’s why I left the show because I knew at that point that it would never be the same.’
The Chicago star confirmed they parted ways due to money.
Denise said: ‘It was mainly to do with pay and a few other things. I think the view was that I had money coming in from acting on the side.
‘I loved him so much and I still do. When I see him now, he makes me laugh so much. I forget about it. But I don’t know if it would ever be the same…’
In 2019, she spoke about the dispute again during an appearance on Natalie Pinkham’s In The Pink podcast.
She said: ‘We were proper mates. I laughed every day, we used to laugh to the point where I was going to wet myself. Then things happened and we’ve had fallouts along the way.
‘There’s are couple of reasons why… when the show became successful and we were negotiating contracts I thought we were doing it as a team but his agent had other ideas and she got him more money and there were all those arguments that happens with bands and presenters.
‘I wanted us to be a team and it became apparent we were not a team anymore and we never got back on track.’
Denise previously said: ‘When the show became successful and we were negotiating contracts I thought we were doing it as a team but his agent had other ideas’
In 2024, the pair posed for an Instagram snap. Smiling together in the snap, Denise captioned it with: ‘Writing and planning @vanouten_denise @johnny_vaughan66 ‘To be continued’
Denise also shared various shots of them larking around together on the project – but did not reveal exactly what it was at the time
The presenting pair fronted the Big Breakfast show during the 90s, yet things turned sour after Denise’s relationship with Johnny broke down over a contract dispute which triggered her decision to leave the show in January 1999
They were an iconic TV pairing back in the day
Johnny previously told The Sun: ‘You can’t just have two people doing it, as we’ve seen from other male-female double acts doing daytime TV who seem to get along well, you also need a non-toxic team as well’.
He clarified that he ‘wasn’t having a dig at anyone’ before saying that it was everyone who was working on the Big Breakfast, in front and behind the camera, ‘who made it [what it was]’.
He then discussed his ‘ups and downs’ with pal Denise saying: ‘You can only fall out with someone you really like, you don’t fall out with people you don’t like. And that’s the way of friendship’.
‘There’s been a couple of ups and downs. But that’s because it’s a real, genuine friendship.’
Their on-screen chemistry boosted The Big Breakfast’s audience figures to record levels, but ended when Denise left to pursue an acting career.
Although the thespian returned to the series in 2000, they could not revive the show’s dwindling numbers.
In a highly-anticipated move in 2008, The Masked Singer star was invited to co-host Capital FM’s breakfast show with Johnny.
Many expected to hear their captivating bond, memorable from The Big Breakfast days, but the duo instead encountered a strained working relationship and Denise notably quit after just six months, halfway through her contract.
In 2024, the pair posed for an Instagram snap. Smiling together in the snap, Denise captioned it with: ‘Writing and planning @vanouten_denise @johnny_vaughan66 ‘To be continued’.
Denise also shared various shots of them larking around together on the project – but did not reveal exactly what it was at the time.
Read the full article here
