By Alanah Eriksen


Ultimo boss Michelle Mone has revealed her success contributed to the breakdown of her 20-year marriage during a tearful interview.

The 40-year-old, whose company turned over £10.3 million last year, says she would probably still be married if she was a housewife and the more money she has, the less happy she is becoming.

The mother-of-three split from her husband and business partner Michael five weeks ago but he is still living at one end of their mansion in Lanarkshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland.

Living through the pain: In a tearful interview, Michelle Mone said she believes her marriage to business partner Michael broke down because she was too successful

With tears sliding down her cheeks, Michelle told the Sunday Times: 'I miss him. I miss what we had. I just keep thinking I'm going to be on my own for the rest of my life.'

She said she will never get married again and men were probably frightened of her anyway.

'I wish I was that woman who relied on her husband to do things for her. To buy her things, to cling on to [him] in the way a wife does. I don't think a lot of men like independent women. I just became too strong. I wish sometimes I wasn't me. I wish I was like... all my friends are housewives. They've got great relationships. If I was a housewife I'd probably still be married to Michael.

'Why did I want to be Michelle Mone? Why did I want to start all these businesses?

Why can I never be satisfied with what I've got? Why can't I just chill, become a wife? Be at home? I'm not dissing housewives, but why couldn't that be me? And then maybe I wouldn't have gone through all this heartache.

'I think the business has taken over my life. It is my life.'

When asked if the success of the business was worth it, she said: 'No, it's not. But my goal this year is to be happy. be happy without it.'

Happier times: Michael is still living at one end of the pair's Lanarkshire home

The couple founded MJM International with her husband in 1996, launching the first of her cleavage-enhancing Ultimo bras in 1999.

Michelle had read about a new silicone product while on holiday in Florida, and obtained the European licence to make bras from it.

The cracks began to show when Michael objected to his wife posing in her underwear for the £40million brand two years ago after famously shedding six stone.

She revealed it was 'the first time I'd ever gone against my husband'.

Michelle has in the past spoke of sleeping in her car after bust-ups between the pair.

Rumours also started circulating after she started hanging out with actor Shane Richie and rugby star Gavin Henson, but she says she did not have an affair with either.

She said the couple's decision to split was mutual and they failed to make time for each other.

They became 'business partners only', with Michelle clocking up 202 flights last year alone.

She says she has obsessive compulsive disorder with everything having to be perfect.

Michelle, who left school at 15, revealed she had been working with a business coach in Florida to sort out some 'issues', because the more money she made, the less happy she became.

She came from a poor family in Glasgow who could not afford a bath but has overcome adversity.

Her brother died when she was a teenager, her father was confined to a wheelchair at the age of 38 and she was fleeced of £1.6 million by a distributor while just starting out.



source:dailymail