MELINDA Messenger and her husband Wayne Roberts have spoken to a celebrity magazine to end speculation into why they have separated.

In what Melinda's agent Jaine Brent described as a one-off interview with Hello! Magazine, the couple, who started their married life in Swindon, both talked openly about what led to their split in mid-April.

Ms Brent said: "She only did that interview to set the record straight because there was so much rubbish being written in the tabloids."

Melinda's agent was not prepared to disclose how much money the 37-year-old ex-glamour model received from the magazine.

"It wasn't a question of money. It was a question of setting the record straight," she said.

Born in Swindon in 1971, Melinda found fame after becoming a popular Page 3 girl for The Sun newspaper.

She married Wayne, 30 in 1998 and they have three children.

One report in the tabloids was that Wayne's disagreement over their children's Steiner education was a contributing factor in the breakdown of the marriage.

Steiner schools emphasise the role of the imagination in learning and encourage the early introduction to foreign languages.

Ms Brent said this had really angered Wayne in particular.

"Wayne was over the moon they were there - it certainly wasn't anything to do with that," she said.

"Everybody was upset about that because they were writing things that were just supposition."

In the interview Melinda and Wayne addressed the issues of their children's education, Melinda's post-natal depression, her celebrity status and suggestions of infidelity.

Both dismissed these suggestions as exaggerated and ridiculous, and said their children's schooling was a joint decision.

Miss Brent said: "The interview was just so that everybody knows there was nothing else involved."

Melinda said there had been no crisis point, but Wayne wanting to sell the house led her to reassess their life and future.

"Because our relationship still wasn't working, despite all our efforts, I felt that this was the only course of action to take," she said.

Wayne moved in with Melinda's brother a few weeks ago, and still hopes the couple can move past their difficulties, but said he accepts Melinda needs some time and space to see if they have a future together, according to the article.

Melinda said: "It gets scary and it's difficult to cope with everything on my own, but we can't get back together for the wrong reasons."

She spoke of how she and Wayne had both tried to make it work and went through counselling after their marriage reached a crisis point two years ago.

Wayne said the couple had been struggling for the last 18 months to make their relationship work.