In a candid campfire confession on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! the spin king says Liz’s on-going friendship with former long-term boyfriend Hugh became too much to bear.
“It is hard on a new relationship when you are really good friends with your ex,” he told the other contestants in South Africa.
“Elizabeth was really good friends with Hugh (Grant), he was like her best friend.
“When I used to go back to Australia, and she wasn’t leaving London, Hugh would come and spend the weekend at the house and I was like, ‘What’s that?’ So I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, when I’m there tell him to come when I’m there.
“I knew Hugh before I knew you so just tell him to come over and then she said he feels uncomfortable. What’s going on?’”
Liz and Love Actually star Hugh dated from 1987 until their “amicable” split in 2000. Today, the London next-door neighbours are often spotted out together at events, or the local shops.
Shane and Liz announced their engagement in 2011 – just three months after her divorce to Indian textile tycoon Arun Nayar was finalised – but the couple split at the end of 2013 after trying to make a long-distance relationship work.
As for a future relationship, the father-of-three says he’s not looking for anything too serious.
“I’d have to fall absolutely head-over-heels with someone to have kids again,” says the 46-year-old camp leader.
“If I was desperate for them, and if they said, ‘I really want kids’, then I would consider it.”