Carol Vorderman has admitted to longstanding health worries because of her non-stop work ethic. Speaking candidly with the Western Morning News, the ex-Countdown favourite expressed her thoughts on being a self-confessed workaholic: “I’ve always been the same I’m a workaholic. I think they should have group sessions for that, I’d be first on: My name is Carol Vorderman, and I’m a workaholic.”
She talked about her gruelling routine and the toll it has taken over the years, stating: “It’s been my pattern all the way through my life, is I work, work, work, work, work, then I ‘collapse’. That’s very much in inverted commas. But in the past, about every 10 years, it’s led to some kind of heart issue or something like that.”
With her 64th birthday on the horizon this December, she recognises it’s time to slow down, confessing: “So as you get older I’ll be 64 in December you have to be a little more careful. I haven’t been remotely careful over the last two years in terms of the amount of work, but I will have to look at that. I just get so passionate about it that’s the thing.”
Vorderman, who has a loyal fan base online, often communicates with her followers and reflects humorously on herself, saying: “I call myself an old bird with an iPhone, which is what I am it’s literally just me screenshotting stuff.”#
Carol opened up to her fans about a recent health scare that led to a hospital stay. On Instagram, she disclosed: “Hello, I’ve got some news to share with you. After working 7-day weeks for as long as I can remember, I finally burned out just over two weeks ago and I ended up overnight in hospital. Luckily, after many scans and checks, we know that I don’t have any underlying health issues whatsoever.”
She went on to describe the lifestyle adjustments she’s making after heeding advice from her inner circle. She added: “So, after a proper talking to from my family and my buddies, I’ve taken the health scare as a warning sign to slow down slightly and have decided to cut my work back to weekdays for now.”
Vorderman also mentioned at the Cheltenham Literature Festival how she plans to alter her daily habits, prioritising social media over her frequent trips to London: “I’m quite fine, I had all the checks and everything, but I can’t work seven day weeks anymore.”
“And so I’m going to centre on social media a lot more in the future rather than travelling up to London all the time. I now switch my phone off for 12 hours a day. Like physically off. Tends to be over the night time hours.”