Fern Britton made heartfelt revelations about her personal life struggles and how she’s managed to push through during a poignant chat on The One Show.
Exploring her experiences in the light of turning 60, host Alex Jones said: “Is it kind of you reflecting on turning 60 and the years that followed because it has been a big decade for you, hasn’t it?”
Fern agreed, detailing the challenging events that coincided with her milestone birthday: “Yes, when I was 60, my mum was still alive, and by the time I was 61, and a bit, she wasn’t.
“She died, and then a year later, my father died, and then a year later, my marriage died, and then the pandemic happened.”
“And I found myself for the first time in my life, aged 63 or whatever I was, then not being able to see a future and thinking, ‘I am stuck, what has happened?'” reports the Express.
Fern concluded: “Anyway, cutting a long story short, I revived myself in some way.”
Additionally, in an intimate discussion with the Daily Mail, Fern contemplated the idea of love after loss and the concern about intimacy with someone new.
Reflecting on her longing for companionship, she confided: “I imagine what it would be like to have someone to talk to and walk with. Someone with whom to share hobbies, hold hands, and maybe… gulp… get intimate.”
She expressed reservations, though, adding, “It’s not just my body. I’m worried about sharing with someone new; mostly, it’s my personal space. What I would really like is a semi-detached relationship—one where we live in our own houses and not in each other’s pockets.
“You’d think it would have been tricky to slip back into single life after such a long time, but I have found it liberating.”
Fern and her partner, Phil, originally crossed paths in the late 1990s when Fern was presenting This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield. The couple tied the knot in the year 2000 and share a daughter, Winnie, who was welcomed into the world in August 2001.
The end of their two-decade-long marital journey came to light in January 2020 when Fern and Phil declared they were going their separate ways.
The One Show airs weekdays at 7pm on BBC One.