Shocked Sarah Beth Briggs, 36, who was married to Martin’s dad Ian, says she felt doomed to be tagged the “wicked stepmother” as he controversially claimed that she had callously burned his childhood toys, baby photos and clothes.

Malton-born Martin grew up at Castle Howard stately home where his father was catering manager. He was named Student of the Year for three years running at the old Scarborough Technical College, now Yorkshire Coast College.

Ms Briggs, an internationally renowned concert pianist from York, fought a legal battle against the claims which appeared in his new book Driven – Cooking in the Fast Lane, which he hoped would be a Christmas best seller.

She has now won damages and an apology, and the first version of the book has been pulped.

Ms Briggs said: “My jaw dropped as I read the extraordinary allegations. Apart from James describing me as ‘the ugliest woman I’d ever met’, something I can’t pass comment on in comparison to the circles of beautiful people with whom he now mixes, he had conjured up a painful scene of my burning ‘every scrap’ of his childhood – ‘baby pictures, school reports, toys and clothes’.

“It was graphically depicted, but wholly untrue. I had never destroyed anything belonging to James.

“Reading on, I became even more perplexed. I was doomed to be the ‘wicked stepmother’ – effectively labelled from the outset, and seemingly never allowed to become anything else.”

Ms Briggs became Martin’s stepmum after marrying events manager Ian Martin, and says she had thought that they had a reasonable relationship after James attended their wedding at Castle Howard.

She added: “I am still left wondering why it ever happened. I feel hurt and disappointed.

“If such unpleasant and untrue statements are a way of boosting book sales, it makes me rather sad. James has far more interesting things to say.

“I hope the revised edition of the book will allow him to do so without causing as much damage and upset to other people as he did to me.”

The autobiography is billed as a frank and hard-hitting story about the 36-year-old’s early “working class life in Yorkshire”, loves and learning to foxtrot on Strictly Come Dancing.

The claims appeared during The Mail on Sunday’s serialisation of the book. A statement said: “The celebrity chef James Martin has apologised to his father’s ex-wife over allegations in his autobiography Driven.

“Mr Martin accepts it was untrue to say his father’s then girlfriend cruelly destroyed childhood mementoes of him and his sister. We are happy to report this.

“HarperCollins publishers have withdrawn that edition of the book from sale and paid damages on behalf of themselves, Mr Martin and Associated Newspapers.”

A spokesman for HarperCollins said they had withdrawn the first edition of the book due to “issues” which had now been resolved. Martin was unavailable for comment on the matter.