The British actress who pioneered the “YouTube divorce” has lost her settlement claim after the judge condemned her for humiliating her Broad-way-mogul husband on the internet.

Judge Harold Beeler granted Philip Smith, 76, the millionaire president of New York’s largest theatre chain, a divorce from Tricia Walsh-Smith, who wrote the play Bonkers, on the ground of cruel and inhuman treatment.

The judge voiced scorn for Ms Walsh-Smith’s effort to embarrass her husband by posting video diatribes on YouTube that were viewed by more than three million people.

The 52-year-old blonde claimed in the videos that she no longer had sex with her husband and found Viagra, condoms and porn films in his drawer.

“He served me with a piece of paper that said he was divorcing me for cruel and inhuman behaviour. The only cruel behaviour I’ve ever done to that man was make him have skimmed milk in his cappuccino – and I did sneak wheatgrass once into his freshly made vegetable juice,” she said in one video.

Lawyers had suggested that the videotaped complaints would set a trend for “YouTube divorce”.

Judge Beeler called the homemade videos “a calculated and callous campaign” aimed at pressuring Mr Smith into settling the divorce on more favourable terms than set out in the couple’s prenuptial agreement.

He cited the videos as a key reason for his decision to grant Mr Smith a divorce and uphold the prenuptial agreement. The ruling requires Ms Walsh-Smith to leave the couple’s Park Avenue apartment within 30 days. She will receive a $750,000 (£375,500) pay-out. Ms Walsh-Smith married Mr Smith, president of the Shubert Organisation, in 1999 after meeting him at a party thrown by the actress Elaine Stritch.

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