Ananova:

Leslie Ash has broken down in tears on television as she insists that her husband does not beat her.

The Men Behaving Badly star and Lee Chapman talk publicly for the first time together since she faced death from a hospital superbug reports the Mirror.

They speak candidly of their stormy 18-year marriage on this evening's Tonight with Trevor McDonald.

Leslie said: "We've had our arguments, but he is not a violent man.

"No, he's not a wife-beater. I'm sure there's lots of people that need worrying about, but we're not."

Leslie, 44, says she finds the claims she is a battered wife very upsetting.

She added: "To continuously be told that I am having to stay with Lee and that he is a violent man, is very traumatic actually."

The couple spoke out against claims by Leslie's sister Debbie and chef Gordon Ramsay that Lee assaulted his wife. Restaurateur Lee, 44, said of former business partner Ramsay: "He seems to have a problem with me."

Leslie is still battling the MSSA superbug which left her partially paralysed from an abscess on her spine.