'Penniless' Coronation Street star whose divorce cost £1million after bombshell split

Johnny Briggs, the man behind Coronation Street's infamous love rat Mike Baldwin, lived a life every bit as dramatic as the soap that made him a household name. Before his death at 85, Briggs claimed to be virtually penniless, having lost much of his fortune following a bitter £1million divorce battle with his second wife Christine. The actor - known for bedding more than 1,000 women - saw his private life splashed across the tabloids for decades, from sex scandals to brutal family rifts.

Briggs, who played cigar-chewing factory boss Mike Baldwin for over 30 years, became one of Britain's most recognisable TV villains. On screen, his love triangle with Ken and Deirdre Barlow gripped the nation. Off screen, things were even messier. Twice married and twice divorced, Briggs was brutally honest about his romantic exploits. In a 2012 interview, he said: "I was a bit of a ladies' man myself. I don't know if I can say how many I've bedded, but it's probably more than [Ken actor William Roache].

"I had the opportunity, I indulged it and I can tell you this - it's not worth it. There's all sorts of dangers."

His first marriage to Caroline Hover ended in 1975 after she discovered a love note in a pendant from another woman.

Daughter Karen recalled: "My brother Mark and I had jumped into bed with Mum and Dad, and I saw that he was wearing a new pendant. I turned it over and read out loud, 'To Johnny, all my love, Christine.' That was it between Mum and Dad."

Briggs married Christine Allsop in 1977, but their volatile relationship played out over decades. She eventually filed for divorce in 2006 after discovering his affair with a 29-year-old makeup assistant.

Her revenge was public and brutal. She hid a letter demanding a divorce in his fan mail and later told reporters: "He's so mean with money I had to wear cheap clothes from a catalogue."

The divorce cost him a reported £1million, a blow he never truly recovered from.

Though he once joked: "Money is everything - and happiness can't buy it," those close to him said the split left him emotionally and financially drained.

Briggs also had a difficult relationship with his daughter Karen, who said she rarely saw her father and felt abandoned. Despite their occasional reconnections, years of tension lingered.

By 2007, with his Coronation Street character written out - dying in the arms of his old rival Ken - Briggs found himself alone and the subject of tabloid scandal once again.

A trip to a sex resort in Pattaya, Thailand, made headlines after a prostitute claimed he paid just €17 and left no tip. He apologised, saying: "This is going to look bad. It's all very embarrassing. There's no fool like an old fool."