Over a career spanning 45 years, Fern Britton has cemented herself as one of the greats of British daytime TV. At the peak of her decade-long stint hosting ITV’s This Morning – from 1999 to 2009 – the show averaged more than one million viewers. And yet Fern has never felt more content than she does right now.
Speaking about life in her 60s in this exclusive interview, the broadcaster and author, 67, tells HELLO!: “It’s really rather wonderful; nothing to be frightened of. I like being at ease with myself. I would say to people coming up to their 60s: “‘Hold on, because you’re going to be surprised by how good it is’.”
Fern’s other career as a best-selling author of ten novels has also brought her immense joy. Cornwall, where she lives, provides the backdrop for a number of books, including her latest, A Cornish Legacy.
Fern’s idyllic life in Cornwall
Having moved to the county in 2020 after separating from her husband, TV chef Phil Vickery, Cornwall has brought not only literary inspiration but also personal fulfilment. “I live in a very small hamlet and it’s almost as if I’ve died and I’m in heaven here,” she says.
© Instagram“In the winter, you can get a crystal-blue day and everybody turns out on the beach and walks the dog. And then you get the lonely long winter days and it gets even more spooky and romantic. I lie in bed and kid myself that I can hear the sea.”
© InstagramFern on regaining her strength
Fern’s newfound love of running is helping her to make the most of the countryside. In April, she posted a photo on Instagram that showed her beaming at a mirror as she posed in her running kit, weights in view, revealing her svelte physique and sparking a surge of praise from her followers.
© InstagramFor Fern, exercising and eating lots of chopped salads is not about vanity but rather her health. “My legs and arms are much stronger; my tummy is much stronger after four children and everything else my body’s been through,” she says, remembering when she contracted sepsis in 2016 after undergoing a hysterectomy.
“I was really close to dying, and yet you can still get up and go out and run and be strong again.”
© InstagramFern’s new book
In Fern’s new book, her protagonist, Cordelia, has lost everything, but it isn’t until she inherits a dilapidated manor house in Cornwall that she embarks on a journey to heal her heart. The character experiences emotional abuse at the hands of her partner, a theme born of the author’s concerns about how younger generations are navigating romantic relationships.
© Instagram“My sons are in their early 30s, my daughters are in their 20s, and it seems so complicated now to have a relationship, because they are very difficult to understand,” she says.
© Instagram“I’m addicted to Married at First Sight and I’m learning so much about what people are talking about. I think: ‘That never happened in our time. We just put up and shut up, ditched them or thought we could get through it. It’s not like that any more, and that worries me.”
DISCOVER: Exclusive: Fern Britton on self-kindness and rediscovering her power in her 60s
When not writing, running or lifting weights, the star enjoys spending quality time with her twins Harry and Jack, 31, and Grace, 28 – her children with first husband Clive Jones – and Winnie, 23, her daughter with Phil. “They are all busy doing their things, which means I don’t see as much of them, but every week I speak to all of them at some stage,” Fern says.
© Getty“Grace is a nurse and has a tiny house in Cornwall; Jack teaches music and Harry is an artist. I’m so proud of them.”
A Cornish Legacy by Fern Britton (HarperCollins, £16.99) is out in hardback now.
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
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