Judi Dench jokes Dame Maggie Smith was a 'complainer'

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In the Channel 5 documentary The Marvellous Maggie Smith: A Celebration, the 87-year-old’s friend Gyles Brandreth touched on the real reason why it didn’t work out between her and Robert. Viewers also learnt about her second husband who she described as being her “rock”.

After Maggie starred in the 1969 film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, it was game-changing for her career.

However, the opportunities she was now receiving cast a shadow on Robert Stephens career, who was also an actor.

In the documentary, it was revealed that her reputation had started to eclipse his.

Broadcaster Bonnie Greer shared that although Robert was a great actor he wasn’t getting any big breaks, whereas the Downton Abbey star was.

She said: “It must have been awful to be at home together, the phone rings for her, doesn’t ring for him. 

“People are clamouring for her, they’re not clamouring for him.”

Maggie’s friend and broadcaster Gyles Brandreth touched on her relationship with Robert as he admitted he believes her first husband had a drinking problem.

He said: “He wasn’t easy, I think he may have also had a temper problem. A temperamental problem, too.”

Gyles revealed that Maggie is a straightforward person and her relationship with Robert was getting unfeasible.

He said: “I think as time went by, it became impossible for her, she’s a hugely gifted person of course she is! 

“But she’s actually a very straightforward person.

“Eventually, it was just too much.”

After six years, the actress decided to walk away from her marriage to Robert and took their two sons Christopher and Toby with her.

A few months after her separation, she rekindled with playwright Beverly Cross who she had known from her days in Oxford in the 1950s.

Once her divorce from Robert had come through, the pair married and relocated to Canada with her two children in 1976.

Biographer Michael Coveney said: “She was able to calm down and recover from the turbulence of the marriage with Robert and of course, Beverly is an absolute rock, and that’s how she described him. He was her rock.”

Maggie and Beverly were married up until his death in 1998.

In a television interview with US 60 Minutes, the actress spoke about her late husband and revealed she has no plans on falling in love again.

When asked if she was lonely since his passing, she replied: “I don’t know. It seems a bit pointless. Going on one’s own and not having someone to share it with.

“Everybody says it gets better, but I don’t think it does. It gets different.”

The Marvellous Maggie Smith: A Celebration is available on My5.

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