Charlene White on Loose Women shake-ups, the show’s latest recruits and why she won’t succumb to the pressure to walk down the aisle
WORDS: JULIE ANN TRAINOR.
Since joining Loose Women at the height of lockdown in 2021, Charlene White has become a household name and a firm favourite on the show. She slotted right in with her fellow presenters from the get-go, and when she’s not refereeing fiery debates on the hit talk show you can catch her reading the news on ITV.
Clearly Charlene is a grafter when it comes to her work. But the mum-of-two deservingly let her hair down on a rare night out at Magic Mike Live’s fifth anniversary in London, where Woman’s Own caught her for a chat on the red carpet.
We waste no time in getting down to all the Loose Women backstage gossip, with the 43-year-old anchor exclaiming, ‘I’ve been there three years now, and I’ve loved it!’
There’s been a huge shake-up on the panel over the past few years, with model Penny Lancaster and Robbie Williams’ wife Ayda Field no longer appearing on-air. Carol McGiffin also announced that she was ‘forced to step away’ from her role on the show because it was ‘stressing her out’, despite having been a regular fixture for over two decades.
In their place, some younger faces have been added to the line-up, including Love Island’s Olivia Attwood Dack, 32, as well as BBC documentary maker Christine McGuinness, 35.
Discussing the latest recruits of the female-led show, Charlene says, ‘Yes, we’ve got Olivia, Christine and [actor] Sue [Cleaver].’
Eagle-eyed fans will remember how a friendship blossomed between Coronation Street star Sue, 60, and Charlene when they both took part in I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2022.
Suggesting that she planted the Loose Women seed in her former campmate Sue’s head, Charlene explains, ‘When we came out of the jungle a year ago, I said to Sue, “I think you will fly if you join our Loose Women panel,” and look at her now. She’s on tomorrow as a panellist and she fills in every now and then, which is incredible.’
SECOND CHANCE
Speaking about recently married Olivia – who was also part of the I’m A Celeb cast in 2022 but had to leave after 24 hours on medical grounds – Charlene reveals, ‘For me it’s special because I missed out on that time with her in the jungle last y
