Clive Myrie admitted that his wife once mistook him for former President of the United States Barack Obama while he was working for the BBC as Washington Correspondent.
Clive, 60, told the Spooning with Mark Wogan podcast in June that he was part of a “swanky gym” whilst he was working in the USA, one which was used by famous politicians from around the world.
Clive explained that part of his workout routine was to swim and that – on occasion – his wife Catherine would pop her head through the port hole in the door and wave at him. However, one day she mistook him for Barack Obama.
Talking about the incident jovially, he said: “I was Washington correspondent. I was a member of a gym just down the road from the BBC office and it’s a bit of swanky gym in the Ritz Carlton.
“We got a very good rate because it was the BBC thank the lord because it was expensive. Everybody went there all the senators, congressmen and women they all used the gym [including] the former Prime Minister of Israel. 50 Cent was there I remember, Barack Obama was there and Oprah Winfrey….There was a little port hole in the door to the swimming pool.
“I tended to go to the gym around about 10/11 o’clock on the morning and I would be swimming [and] usually and Catherine would sort of put her head through [and] wave and walk on. One day she puts her head through, has a look, waves, guy’s doing his stroke looks up waves, it’s Barack Obama. It ain’t me!”
This isn’t the first time Clive has talked about his relationship with Catherine that began after they met at a publishing event in 1992. After dating for several years, they married and have been together ever since.
Talking about the secret to his near-30-year marriage, Clive said part of the reason they were still happily together was because of the time they’d spent apart. He told the Guardian: “Figuratively speaking, at least. Having a space that’s your own; spending time alone, to bond when reunited. My wife, Catherine, has her own interests. I do, too. We celebrate out 25th anniversary this year, and each still have our own identities.”
In the past, Clive has also spoken about why he and Catherine decided not to have children, saying that it wasn’t the danger of his job but rather the amount of travelling which would have made things unfair on any offspring the pair had.
He said: “It wasn’t the danger of the job, just the travelling. We felt it would be selfish on children to drag them around the world. We’ve come from big families.
“I’m from a family of seven (children), Catherine’s from a family of five kids. We weren’t desperate for some kind of familial glue. You get to the point where it’s much more difficult to have a child and then you realise, do we really want that anyway?”
Clive later told the Times they had tried for children but “gradually decided it wasn’t for us. We come from such big families, our get-togethers are always huge. We’ve led a fully and happy life and we dote on our nephews and nieces”.