Susanna Reid on leaving Good Morning Britain, gaining confidence and putting family first
WORDS: ROBYN MORRIS. PHOTOS: GETTY, SHUTTERSTOCK,
Just over a decade ago Susanna Reid was relatively unknown, despite hosting BBC Breakfast alongside the late Bill Turnbull. But after her stint on Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, where she was a runner-up in the final with pro partner Kevin Clifton, she joined Good Morning Britain and is now a household name, boasting well over a million followers on social media. Susanna, now 53, recently told woman&home how Strictly ‘changed her life’, explaining, ‘[It] led me to Good Morning Britain. It gave me that nudge outside my comfort zone and made people see me in a different way.’
In the interview, Susanna, who is mum to sons Sam, 21, Finn, 19 and Jack, 18, opened up about her fear of empty nest syndrome, how entering her 50s has empowered her and why she’s so grateful to Piers Morgan.
Pals with Piers
He may have stormed out of the GMB studios three years ago, but despite not being ‘telly husband and wife’ any more, Susanna and Piers, 59, are still great friends off-screen. ‘Piers and I are in touch all the time,’ Susanna revealed. ‘He is a massive part of what Good Morning Britain has been. He was there for five years, we had such an amazing dynamic and were good friends, so that continues. One of the brilliant things about Good Morning Britain is we’re able to be pretty bold about the questions we ask and the opinions we have.’ She added, ‘At the BBC it was easier, because we didn’t have to have an opinion, whereas now the audience expects you to have one.’
And the confidence she has in expressing her opinions is something she credits Piers for. ‘Piers enabled me to get off the fence,’ she explained. ‘Originally he said, “You’ve got to have an opinion on stuff.” Then I worked out that it was easy when I was alongside him, because whatever he said, I would think the opposite.’ She continued, ‘Not performatively, just, “Oh yeah, I know exactly what I think now because you’re wrong!” That was really empowering and now I carry that with me.’
Building resilience
It seems her sparring with Piers, while undoubtedly sometimes exhausting, has made Susanna more self-assured today. ‘Although the other people that I present with [on GMB] are perhaps not as antagonising as he [Piers] was, it’s easy now to have that strength and opinion. I’m now much stronger and more resilient when people disagree with me.
That’s something new in my 50s.’
And it appears entering h
