It was a month after her 40th birthday that Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee met her future husband Ben Richardson. “We joke that he missed out on the best party and celebration. I blew my wedding budget on my birthday.”
It had taken her until her forties to find love, not because she was solely focused on establishing her successful career, but because she was having too much fun hanging out with friends like Natalie Pinkham and Kirsty Gallacher.
“Ben just walked into my life and I was really happy. I think that it’s drains and radiators, isn’t it? I was just radiating good vibrations and that attracted a good vibe,” she tells Ateh Jewel on this week’s episode of HELLO!’s Second Act podcast. “It wasn’t that I was fussy, I just knew what I wasn’t going to compromise on.”
Within a year her life had completely transformed. Ben, 47, already had a son Ted, now 12, and at 41 she was pregnant with their first child Rae, 5, together.
“There’s no step in our family. That is a banned word. I have a bonus baby,” says Sarah-Jane, 47, of Ted, who captured her heart when he welcomed her to the family with a bunch of flowers.
“When you meet somebody who has an ex-partner and children together, you don’t know what they’re going to be like. I won the lottery in terms of Ben had already established a really good relationship with Teddy’s mum.
“I’ve just tried to be a third parent – more love, support, cheerleading, hugs, all of that kind of stuff. It’s all family. There’s no blended whatsoever.”
Emotional shift
Her 20 year career has taken her on a journey of highs and lows, from campaigning at Downing Street and meeting huge celebrities to having a stalker in her 20s when she was on regional news in Birmingham. “I definitely think I downplayed it,” she says of the moment a crazed ‘fan’ attacked her in 2017. “It was quite shocking and he ended up going to prison.”
Since having a daughter, the presenter has noticed a shift in her emotions when covering big stories. “It becomes personal in a way, it just hits differently. The first story that really made that apparent in a physical way was the three young girls murdered in a dance class in Southport.
“Everything about that story was visceral. It really affected me. At the sentencing, I just sobbed on TV.”
She is already planning another ‘wedding’ party for her 50th birthday, similar to hers and Ben’s relaxed affair in 2022. “Growing old is a privilege. I just want to celebrate it,” she says.
Sarah-Jane presents The UK Tonight, on Sky News, Mon-Thurs at 8pm.
Listen to the Second Act podcast, now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Youtube.
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