Anne Diamond's nine-year marriage is over and her husband is moving out of their 14-bedroom Oxfordshire mansion, it was reported today.

Anne, who won fame as the host of morning TV in the 1980s and early 90s, bought the £1.5m dream home in Cuddesdon, near Wheatley, with husband Mike Hollingsworth two years ago.

But now TV executive Mr Hollingsworth, 52, is understood to be searching for a bachelor home in London.

According to a report in today's Mirror, Anne's insistence that their four sons spend every night in their bed meant the couple had not slept together for three years.

The pair have had a troubled relationship since 1991, when their four-month-old baby Sebastian was a victim of cot death. They battled to save their marriage and several times pledged to try again for the sake of the children. But Mr Hollingsworth's departure will finally end the sham in which he moved into his own wing of the house, which he converted into his own quarters. A close family friend was reported as saying: "This is a very sad situation. Mike has every sympathy with Anne's maternal fears for her children after they lost their baby to cot death. "But having four boys sleeping between you every night makes the physical side of married life an impossibility."

Anne, 44, who now presents a show for London radio station LBC, talked recently of how sons Oliver, 11, Jamie, nine, Jake, five, and three-year-old Connor share her bed.

She said: "I think it's the most natural thing in the world and will sort itself out."

She added: "Sebastian died in the middle of the night. If I'd been sleeping with him, I might have heard him stop breathing and done something."

Lawyer Rhory Robertson, who acts for both Anne and Mike, confirmed the couple planned to separate.

He said: "Anne Diamond and Mike Hollingsworth have for some years been leading separate lives.

"They continue to live together at their Oxfordshire home and their prime consideration is still the welfare and protection of their four sons.

"The couple remain good friends and have no intention to divorce."

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