Richard Madeley has revealed his wife Judy Finnigan almost died last year after she vomited a litre of blood.
He also disclosed that the serious health scare led to both the former This Morning hosts giving up alcohol.
Speaking about the experience for the first time, Richard told the Sun that it was “touch and go” after Judy was rushed to hospital.
He told the newspaper: “She’d been taking Ibuprofen for sore knees and she had no clue that taking them on an empty stomach could seriously affect the stomach lining.”
Richard went on to reveal that he awoke one morning to see his wife vomiting blood.
“I dialled 999 and the ambulance arrived in about four minutes,” he said.
“They had her on a drip and got her to the Royal Free in Hampstead and she had two blood transfusions.”
Judy, 71, underwent surgery to remove four ulcers above the stomach lining including one in an artery which caused her to bleed out.
Richard explained: “It was touch and fucking go. While she was coming round from that, the surgeon said, ‘She’s going to be fine. Did you call the ambulance immediately?’
“I said, ‘Yes,’ and he said, ‘Good, because if you’d waited another 20 minutes she probably would have bled out.’ Half an hour tops and she would have died.”
Elsewhere in the interview Richard, who married Judy in 1986, suggested their marriage - and working together on This Morning - is the reason he has never been hit by any allegations of sexual misconduct.
He said: “Very early on I made the conscious decision that when I was in my dressing room, if anybody knocked on the door, I never let them in.
“I’d open the door and keep it open with my foot, and it became a complete habit. We’d have the conversation on the threshold and in full view of the office. It was my iron rule and it is one I still follow on GMB.”