'I'm so glad I split from Julia'

He had the ultimate Pretty Woman to himself - but now Julia Roberts is out of his life Benjamin Bratt seems happier than ever.

The 38-year-old actor - who split with Roberts 18 months ago after a four-year relationship - says the pressure of living with her was relentless.

Bratt is soon to be a parent with former Bond girl Talisa Soto, whom he married in April, but he is still charitable about Roberts even if he hated his goldfish bowl existence with her. "I wasn't so naive as to go into that relationship thinking, 'this will be an entirely normal experience'," he said.

In fact the reality of life with a superstar soon became apparent. "I experienced that living at that level of visibility is doesn't really appeal to me," he added. "Even she (Roberts), as well as other people of that magnitude of fame, doesn't enjoy it," he added. Bratt is best known in America as Detective Reynaldo Curtis in the TV series Law & Order, having played the role for nine years until 1999.

He first fell for Soto, 35 on the set of the little-seen film Pinero, even though they were both involved with other people. In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine, Bratt adds: "We were at the same time having trouble in our respective relationships - we found solace in the parallel turmoil." Despite the sudden split from Roberts - for reasons never made publicly clear - Bratt speaks fondly of his ex-girlfriend though their relationship taught him "there's a difference between what you want and what you need".

He adds: "From the way I'm feeling right now, I look back and I see that it was necessary to go through whatever it was that I did to clearly understand and ultimately enjoy the heights of this love."