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‘I drank a lot… & danced on tables’
Former party girl and Countryfile presenter Julia Bradbury says these days she’s toasting the good life with a pot of tea rather than a bottle of bubbly…
EXCLUSIVE
Julia Bradbury is known best for hosting Countryfile, and quitting in 2014, at age 44, to concentrate on adding to her longed-for family. But three years ago, then aged 50, the now mum-of-three was diagnosed with breast cancer. Taking control of the situation, Julia bravely announced her diagnosis to the public and then documented her cancer journey in a TV show called Breast CancerAndMe. She followed this up by writing a book, Walk YourselfHappy, finding the most amazing places to go walking all over the world. Now, she’s expanding this idea into a series of wellbeing retreats…
Julia, you look a picture of health and you’ve talked about giving up alcohol since your cancer diagnosis. Is abstinence still the answer for you?
I don’t describe myself as teetotal, because I have the occasional glass – I had a Champagne on my birthday last Summer. But the more research I do into alcohol… there are no benefits, certainly no benefits for me. It increases the chance of my cancer coming back, so that’s a really good motivation not to drink for me.
Do you miss it at all?
I drank a lot. And I had a lot of good times, I danced on a lot of tables! And I enjoyed the bad bits of alcohol, you know, when it sort of tips you over the edge and you’d lose your inhibitions and start to behave in a slightly silly way… All that can be really good fun… when you’re young. But I feel like I’ve been there and done that now. And now I have a completely different set of priorities. I have young children [son Zephyr, 12, and twin girls, Xanthe and Zena, eight, with her property developer husband Gerard Cunningham], I’ve been through a cancer diagnosis. So for me now, I’m gonna have to get my kicks somewhere else.
And do you miss those crazy days at all?
No. You don’t have to drink to have a great time with friends, I still enjoy socialising. I went out with friends the other weekend, we were in a bar and I had a pot of jasmine tea and they were all having cocktails. And I had a great time.
GROWING UP FAST
Julia’s braced for anew life stage, as she becomes mum to ateenager…
‘My son is 12, so we’re nearly into the teendom. And my twin girls are eight, so I still classify them as little. So we’re teetering on the brink and many of my friends tell me it’s going to be quite achallenge. My son is very sweetnatured and very, very kind. I do say all the time, “You know, you’re just going to become a smelly teenager and you’re not going to cuddle and hug
