BBC presenter Andrew Marr has admitted the Supreme Court issued a gag order to keep his affair with a fellow political journalist a secret from the public.
Marr also revealed he paid child support for several years before a DNA test revealed he wasn’t the girl’s father after all.
But now Marr, who has come forward himself to speak about the gag order, says he is embarrassed by the situation and believes the application of the injunctions has gotten “out of control”.
“I didn’t get into journalism to gag journalists,” reporter Andrew Marr, 51, told the Daily Mail.
“Am I embarrassed? Yes. Is that why I’m worried? Yes. But at the time there was a crisis in my marriage and I believed there was a small child involved.”
“The restraining order gave me and my family the time and space they needed to repair and heal themselves during a very difficult time.”
But Marr added that he believes gag commands, if used, should only be limited to a specific period of time.
“I know these orders are controversial and the situation seems to be getting out of hand,” he said.
“In a limited number of difficult situations, there is a reason for privacy, but then you have to move on. They are not meant to last forever and it takes a sense of proportion.”
Marr’s extramarital affair with fellow journalist ended in 2003.
Marr has been married to political interviewer and Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley for 23 years and they have three children together, a 21-year-old son and two daughters, aged 19 and 1.
Marr has confirmed they are still together as a family.
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