EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
ON THE LESSONS SHE’S LEARNT TO LIVE A HAPPY, POSITIVE LIFE
It would be difficult to meet a more upbeat person than Julia Bradbury. Whether reporting from the red carpet in Los Angeles, talking about otters in Bristol or striding across hill and dale on one of her many walking programmes, she exudes an irrepressible energy and joie de vivre that is as full-on behind the camera as it is on screen.
She is, she agrees, a “glass-half-full” person, a result of a happy, secure childhood spent in rural Rutland and urban Sheffield with her Greekborn mother Chrissi, father Michael and older sister Gina.
“Having explored myself a little bit, I think I have a need to please and that’s my natural personality to survive and get through stuff,” the former Countryfile and Watchdog presenter tells us. “That’s what I put on for the world because it’s my survival mechanism.
“We could go down a whole rabbit hole about that, but I had a very loving childhood and I thank my parents, because they gave me the ability to express my confidence. Being loved allows you to do that and to make mistakes, because even if you royally cock something up, you’re still going to be loved.
“I realise that’s a privileged position and not everybody is going to have that. But the love of my family is something I hold very dear to me and I genuinely think it’s helped me through life.
“I’m sure it’s added to some of the complications as well,” she adds with a smile.
CHANGING PRIORITIES
With World Happiness Day falling on 20 March, Julia is the ideal person to discuss happiness and how her pursuit of it has changed over the years.
A breast cancer diagnosis in 2021 and her recovery from a mastectomy and breast reconstruction have profoundly affected her understanding of what brings her joy.
Back in her 20s, when she was forging a career in showbiz, first with L!VE TV and then as LA correspondent for GMTV, work was her focus.
“I had a great job. Although it made me stressed because of the pressures and the pitfalls, being in that world and having the opportunities I had and some of the places that work took me to made me really happy. I also had a great circle of friends that I still have to this day, so the combination of an edifying career and a lovely friendship circle was a good place to be.”
Becoming a mother in her 40s – she was 40 when she and partner Gerard
Cunningham had son Zephyr, now 13, and their twin girls Xanthe and Zena more than three years lat
