At the time they insisted that no-one else was involved in the break up and Miss Robinson, 63, said: "We have been an enormously important part of each other's lives for a very long time and our friendship will carry on forever."

Mr Penrose had acted as his wife's agent and was the driving force behind her rise to fame. He now runs a property company in the Cotswolds.

Included in the £20 million settlement is an investment property portfolio of four houses worth £4 million. Miss Robinson will retain ownership of another four homes. She is said to have amassed a fortune worth £60 million.

Mr Penrose, 61, declined to comment on the settlement, but insisted that he and Miss Robinson remain "very good friends".

A source close to the couple did say that Miss Robinson was satisfied with the settlement, as Mr Penrose had a big influence on her career.

The friend said: "They were a great team together and I am sure Anne would have wanted to have that reflected in the final settlement."

The couple do not have any children together, although Miss Robinson has a daughter, Emma, from a previous marriage to former Times editor, Charlie Wilson. That marriage ended in 1973, partly due to Miss Robinson's alcoholism which she beat before she launched her television career.

She met Mr Penrose seven years after the end of her first marriage. The couple met when they were journalists on a news agency in North London and they married in 1980.

Miss Robinson was the Daily Mail's assistant editor before she moved into television. She took over from Barry Took as the presenter of BBC's Points of View and then she went on to host the consumer show Watchdog from 1993.

But it was her success in the Weakest Link, which began in 2000, which made her a household name. She presented the US version of the series and the format was sold around the world, bringing in more than £100 million for the BBC.

Miss Robinson is one of a long list of stars who has divorced her spouse quietly. For celebrities who do not want their dirty linen washed in public, it is a great advantage for stars to agree on a settlement without getting the courts involved.  Not only does it mean that neither of the pair has to attend court when the divorce is finalised, but it also prevents the lawyers getting a huge cut of the settlement.

Many couples believe that by fighting with their partner for every asset, they are protecting themselves financially, but an acrimonious and lengthy legal battle is only an advantage to the lawyers dealing with the case.

Philippa Pearson, expert in family law at Norris Miles solicitors, says, "The only way someone can really protect themselves financially upon divorce is to avoid a big contested financial battle through the lawyers and the courts so that they avoid the big legal fees that such litigation always entails."

But how do divorcing couples reach a settlement without it turning into all out war? Ms Pearson advises that if a couple can't reach agreement over the kitchen table, then they should try mediation or, failing that, collaborative law, where the parties agree in writing to reach a settlement without going to court.

She says "Both are tried and tested methods of reaching settlements with the minimum of lawyer and court intervention. They are relatively cheap and they avoid the unpleasantness which inevitably accompanies contested divorces."

Costly celebrity divorces

1. Steven Spielberg and Amy Irving: The couple divorced after four years of marriage. Irving successfully contested their prenuptial agreement because she did not have legal representation and she received $100 million, roughly half of Spielberg's fortune at the time. He is now worth $3 billion.
   
   
2. Harrison Ford and Melissa Mathison: The settlement awarded to Mathison was estimated at $85 million. She also negotiated a piece of Ford's future earnings from films he made while they were married, including DVD sales of The Fugitive and the Indiana Jones trilogy. They were married for 21 years.
   
   
3. Kevin Costner and Cindy Silva: After 16 years of marriage Silva was awarded $80 million because she was married to him during his peak earning years.
   
   
4. Paul McCartney and Heather Mills: The couple, who have a daughter together, split after four years of marriage. Mills has received £23.4 million of McCartney's £400 million fortune.
   
   
5. James Cameron and Linda Hamilton: Cameron received an estimated $100 million from Paramount for Titanic and Hamilton received half of that in the divorce settlement. They have one daughter together.
   
   
6. Michael and Diandra Douglas: Diandra was awarded $45 million, as well as homes in Beverly Hills and Majorca. They were married for 22 years.
   
   
7. Lionel and Diane Richie: After eight years of marriage Diane filed for divorce in 2004. As part of her petition she claimed a monthly clothing allowance of $15,000 and a plastic surgery budget of $20,000 a year. She received an estimated settlement of $20 million.
   
   
8. Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall: Despite being together for 22 years and having two children together, Jerry only obtained a fraction of his $325 million fortune when she received between $15 and $25 million.

 

Further information
Save legal fees with Lawpack's DIY Separation & Divorce Kit
Update your Will now that you've got divorced
Do I need a solicitor for my divorce?
What are the grounds for divorce?
Thousands copy Mills and do their own 'DIY divorce'
How to protect yourself financially on divorce
10 tips on how to avoid a messy divorce
10 things you need to do after a divorce
Credit crunch creating divorce difficulties