Janet Street-Porter on what the show’s like behind the scenes and her A-list secrets
WORDS: JULIE ANN TRAINOR
Janet
W ith her straight-talking, no-nonsense attitude, it’s easy to see why Janet Street-Porter is one of
Loose Women’s most formidable and fascinating characters. She rarely shies away from her colourful love life and has clocked up a total of four husbands, though she has been in a long-term relationship with entrepreneur Peter Spanton since 1999 – a romance they prefer to keep out of the public eye.
The journalist – who hails from west London – cut her teeth as a fashion writer and went on to make her name in youth TV and as a newspaper editor, before enjoying stints on I’m a Celebrity… and Celebrity MasterChef. In 2016 she was awarded a CBE by the late Queen. Here the 77-year-old talks about her time on Loose Women and more…
How has your Loose Women journey been so far?
When I started at Loose Women in 2011, I was shocked to discover that they expected me to be in the studio for 8.30am and sit in a small room where there was a lot of gossip exchanging. I was caught reading the newspaper and not paying attention, so since COVID-19 I have done the meetings remotely – it was a great excuse. I sit at home watching them all on my computer yelling, ‘I can’t hear.’ I’m like a disembodied face.
It sounds like you call the shots…
I do the meetings from home and then when I come in, we’ve all gone into makeup and I arrive last, and they call me a diva! I’ve got my own small list of requirements in my dressing room, like redbush tea bags, and I don’t want to talk to anyone, but unfortunately, I have to.
You’ve been married four times…
The last time I got married was in Las Vegas at 3.30 in the morning, and I was completely drunk, and it took me five days to realise it was a midlife crisis. About a decade later, I went back to the little chapel I got married in with my wedding certificate and I burnt it. I remember there was a queue of people outside, and I exclaimed, ‘Please God, never let me get married again.’ Then I shouted at the people in the queue, ‘Don’t do it,’ and they ignored me.
Who is the biggest name-dropper on Loose Women?
Over the years, I’ve developed a skin like a rhinoceros. Everybody on Loose Women says I’m a big name-dropper, with Denise [Welch] followed by Linda [Robson].
Why is that?
A few years ago Bette Midler was on the show, and everyone was in such a state of excitement. W
