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Former GMTV star Anthea Turner talks about the joys (and perils) of getting older, enjoying life’s simple pleasures with fiancé, Mark, and her new beauty secret...
Since becoming TV’s golden girl, fronting Top of the Pops, Blue Peter and then GMTV, Anthea Turner, has challenged herself with different projects – from interiors to recycling and beauty books. It’s possibly one of the reasons why, alongside a rigorous beauty routine and a very active lifestyle she looks, at 63, at least a decade younger (her pal, GMB’s Kate Garraway has admitted to ‘badgering’ her about the secrets to her agelessness!). Or maybe, it’s in part down to her relationship with businessman, Mark Armstrong. Here, the svelte star, originally from Stoke-on-Trent, talks candidly about her latest business venture, a beauty product she recently launched (more later), and the things that keep her feeling alive.
Anthea, to quote Kate Garraway, what are your secrets to looking this amazing at 63?
I’ve looked out for my skin. Purely because I don’t tan easily. I’d always be the one under a tree. Yes, I could have been more careful in the sun because I was in my 20s in the Eighties, when everyone wanted a deep tan. The older you get, the more you realise how protecting your skin from the sun makes a difference.
What are your thoughts on ageing, in general?
We’re not our mother’s daughters. We didn’t go and have a perm and set. We are the Baby Boomers of the Sixties. I don’t feel as if age precludes me from anything. Mark’s younger than me, but the only thing I don’t think I’d get my head around is dating somebody, oh, more than a decade my junior. And sometimes, I put clothes on and think, just because they fit, doesn’t mean they’re age appropriate! But look, it’s whatever makes you happy.
One downside of ageing is illness – you were diagnosed with osteopenia last year…
Yes, it’s the precursor to osteoporosis. It limits people lives – that is my worst fear. I’m part of a research programme with an organisation at a Leeds clinic to see if it’s possible to reverse osteoporosis. When you’re young, you don’t ever think you’re going to get old. But when you get there, you think about your health more, lifestyle choices you’ve made in the past. It’s not about how long you live – it’s about how well you live in those years. I couldn’t imagine not being able to go for a run. That would horrify me.
What things enrich your life?
Family. Time with the two girls [her step-kids with ex-husband Grant Bovey] – they are all grown-up now, one married, one in a steady relationship… Good friends. And Mark, our shared lives together... I feel so lucky that, later in life, I’ve found love. Though, I never doubted it, I alway
