Fern Britton has had a "tough time" since her marriage collapsed.
Fern Britton
The 63-year-old presenter split from celebrity chef Phil Vickery, 60, in 2020 after 20 years of marriage and Fern admitted that she struggled through a difficult few years which saw her "marriage die" and both parents pass away.
She said: "It’s been hard, but there is life again. We did have three cats. I lost one of them two summers ago.
"I have had a bad two or three years. Both of my parents died, my beloved cat died and unfortunately my marriage died.
"It was a bit of a tough time but we are getting through. And it is all OK. There is life afterwards."
Fern added that her close friends tried to cheer her up with saucy jokes after her marriage split.
Speaking to BBC presenter Carol Kirkwood, 59, for online platform Fane.co.uk, she said: "I have got a couple of very good girlfriends down here in Cornwall and they just make me laugh all the time.
“They came round a while ago to help me clear my garage. Now that’s a friend, isn’t it?
“There was an awful lot that had arrived from my old home and I could not face unpacking it all.
“They came and helped me and they brought boxes and big thick pens and labels.
“We spent all day and their partners were lovely and put up shelves for me, and a floor.
“Then at the end of the day, one of the boxes had a label on, saying, ‘Sex toys to be sorted,’ rubbed out and, ‘Outdoor lights,’ put on it, just to make me laugh.”
Meanwhile, Fern - who was a size 22 before dropping five dress sizes thanks to a gastric band operation in 2008 - admitted she has put weight on in lockdown but says it is a reality of getting older.
She explained: "I have put weight on in lockdown and it’s life. I keep thinking there is no point in lying. It’s a good thing to say to people, ‘This is what happens when you get older’.
“These times are very different. I am fine that [my birthday is coming up] and I will be 64.
“I just think, ‘Where has that gone?’ And I am not at a crossroads, but I am stepping into another big chapter of life whilst possibly the final chapter, so I am processing all of that as well as Covid and all the other changes that have been going on.
“Not in a down way, it is just like, ‘Oh I don’t know what is quite happening next’."
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