Vicky Pryce has revealed that Lib Dem cabinet minister Chris Huhne told her their marriage was over during the half time of a World Cup football match.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's World at One programme on Tuesday the successful economist recalled the moment on June 19, 2010, when her then husband broke the news.
"I was watching the World Cup, bits of it, and it was half time and I came down to have something to eat, and my husband came in and told me he had been found out by the press having an affair and he was about to make a statement before they exposed him, which he went and did," she said.
Huhne then left Pryce for his press adviser Carina Trimingham.
"I discovered it just like that," Pryce said. "It was only over a few minutes conversation that I learned the marriage had basically come to an end."
She added: "He went to the study and wrote it up [the statement] and sent it off and then went to the gym... that was that."
At the time Pryce held the prestigious post as the joint head of the Government Economic Service, but had decided to resign the post after Huhne became a cabinet minister in order to avoid a conflict of interest.
Pryce told the BBC that the first thing she did after learning that her marriage was over was to go and see Lib Dem business secretary Vince Cable to find out if he knew about the affair. But she said "everyone seemed to be in the dark".
Cable told her that as her marriage to Huhne was over the conflict of interest had disappeared and so she could stay in her job. But in the end she decided to leave anyway.
Pryce also said that civil servants in Cable's office used to warn her when Huhne was coming to visit the department so she could leave the building. "They were all rallying around me to make sure I wasn't put in an awkward position," she said.
Pryce, a Lib Dem, also indicated she may stand for election to parliament, noting that there has "never been a woman chancellor".
"I've always been very interested in politics," she said. "Working in the civil service and very closely with secretary's of state and ministers, being able to influence what was happening was good. It would be really brilliant to make decisions myself or influence those decisions in a much more hands on way."
But she added it would "depend on whether people would want me to do that. In terms of economics which is my field I can contribute quite a lot."
"I have been thinking about how to become much more involved, either through finding a seat, its going to be rather hard at the next election, or some other way.
"Some people know about what I'm thinking. but it would take a bit of time for them to become crystallised."
Huhne has long been dogged by allegations, that he denies, that he made Pryce accept speeding points on his behalf in order to avoid a driving ban. In keeping with previous media appearances Pryce refused to discuss the matter during the interview.