James Cracknell's wife Beverley Turner says she was 'sure he would fail' in Boat Race as she describes marriage breakdown

Jacob Jarvis8 April 2019

James Cracknell's wife said she was "sure he would fail" to succeed in the Boat Race as she opened up about why their 17-year marriage has broken down.

Beverley Turner commended his “super-bloody-human” feat, which she watched on TV with their children from home but said preparations for it were partly to blame for their separation.

Writing in The Times, the 45-year-old presenter said "there will always be another challenge" to take him away from the family and she was unsure she could live with his “self-centred pursuits”.

After Cracknell’s triumph with Cambridge, which made him the oldest winner and competitor, Ms Turner said: “I was sure he would fail. It was ludicrous to think he could regain the strength and stamina required to sit alongside 20-year-old rowers, but if there is one thing that has not changed since 2010 it's James's determination to prove people wrong.

Split: Beverley Turner and James Cracknell
Getty Images

“Returning to study at 46 and getting into a boat alongside blokes 25 years younger may have been an absolute dereliction of marital duty, but even I can admit it’s nothing short of blood-super-human.”

Cracknell became the oldest competitor and winner
AFP/Getty Images

Explaining why she watched the race, she said it was important for their three children Croyde, 15, Kiki, 10, and Trixie, eight.

She wrote: “This endeavour had taken their daddy away from home for eight solid months (with the preceding five spent in a distracted haze with his eyes on the prize). The kids needed to see that this enormous family sacrifice wasn't entirely in vain.”

Ms Turner also spoke of the strain on the pair’s relationship following Cracknell’s brain injury in 2010.

The pair spent 17 years of marriage together
Getty Images

Doctors warned her his personality might be on “Planet James for a while” and “made it sound as if I would be married to a drunk teenager”.

Ms Turner said “they were right” and the next three years of their marriage after he awoke from a coma “were the worst”.

Cambridge's James Cracknell celebrates winning the men's boat race with team mates
REUTERS

“The next three were much better and the past two have been mainly exhausting and sad,” she wrote.

In a moment of reflection, Cracknell himself said he had been “one husband for the first eight years and a different one for the next”, Ms Turner wrote.

Cracknell “couldn’t stop speaking, but certainly stopped listening”, Ms Turner said, as she spoke of the dynamic changing between them.

Double Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell trains as part of the Cambridge University's crew
REUTERS

This became one of “parent and child”, describing how her desire to protect became “stultifying” to Cracknell, who eventually packed his bags and moved to Cambridge last September to study MPhil in human evolution.

“Like most teenagers he was probably glad to see the back of the woman who seemed to be constantly making demands on him that he wasn’t prepared to meet,” she wrote.

“By his own admission, James underestimated the commitment that going back to university to study a master's degree and rowing full-time would involve.”

The Boat Race 2019 - In pictures

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Ms Turner looked back on how when Cracknell rowed the Atlantic in 2005 he “failed to discuss” his plans and said he had “form” in not consulting her.

“The difference in 2018 was whether I could reasonably live with these exhausting, self-centred pursuits for the rest of my life,” she wrote.

Advising others with a partner suffering from a brain injury she encouraged them to “shout more loudly if nobody is hearing you” and to seek help.

However, despite the issues she said the marriage “wasn’t all bad” and said: “Even on his worst days James was funny and he would always be up early, bringing me tea.”

There is also “no animosity” between them, she said, and the pair spent Christmas together despite then being separated and they are working to ensure there is little disruption for their children.

“That American neurologist was right about the existence of Planet James. It's an exhilarating, dizzying place to be. And it's been one hell of a ride. But I'm ready to get off. And I wish JC all the luck in the universe as he jets off into the unknown,” she wrote.

After Sunday's Boat Race Ms Turner tweeted congratulations and said: "Behind every great man an' all that."

While Cracknell himself said he would be celebrating with his crew but then refocussing on his children.

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