Josh Duhamel felt like he was in Fergie's "shadow" during their marriage.

The 53-year-old actor has opened up about his relationship with 50-year-old pop star ex Fergie - with whom he has 12-year-old son Axl - before they separated in 2017 after eight years of marriage, and he admitted he struggle over "whose star [was] bigger" at the time.

He told the Megyn Kelly Show: "It's probably my own ego more than anything.

"I don't think it bugged her as much as it probably did me. But she was a massive star at the time!"

Josh added that he felt like he was "in her shadow a lot of the time".

The couple tied the knot in 2009, which was the same year Fergie's group the Black Eyed Peas topped the charts with I Gotta Feeling and Boom Boom Pow.

He recalled: "It was a huge shift [in my life] because she was a massive star at the time and so it was a big adjustment for me, if I'm being honest.

"But, you know, Fergie is a very normal person, at the end of the day. A good mom. We have a great relationship. She and my wife [Audra Mari] actually get along great."

When they got married, Josh was a star in his own right, working on the Transformers film franchise, and appearing on the small screen in the likes of Las Vegas and All My Children.

Despite the strange situation and their breakup, the actor revealed they "have a great relationship".

He said: "We parent our son, Axl. She's a great mom. I'm extremely happily married now to my wife, Audra.

"We have a beautiful son [Shepherd, two] and a little girl on the way. [Audra and Fergie] have a great relationship, which is what I really care about.

"I want to make sure everybody is just copacetic. I just want peace and I don't want any in-fighting between anybody.

"They've been very civil, thankfully, in the way they approach this thing. … It could be ugly but, thankfully, it's not."

Josh recently told The Skinny Confidential podcast that their conflicting outlooks ultimately led to the end of their marriage.

He explained: "We're very different … Fergie and I, we have different views of the world. And that's OK."

Despite their differences, he has "no regrets" about their time together, and praised his ex's approach to co-parenting.

Josh -- who married Audra in 2022 -- said: "[Fergie's] a great mom. [She's] very kind, very non-confrontational -- thank God -- so we have a good relationship."