TV presenter Anthea Turner, 63, on being a stepmum and how health equals beauty
MY LIFE lessons
Appreciate your roots
I hail from Stoke on Trent, where I had a humble beginning in a place that’s far from glamorous. As I’ve grown older, I’ve become increasingly grateful for my Midlands roots. My father is still there, so I’m home a couple of times a month.
Loved ones don’t leave you
My mum passed away in April last year, aged 92. She had wet macular degeneration, an eye disorder that causes blurred vision, and she’d also had a stroke. You could say I feel that death was a release. I still chat to mum. I’ll ask her a question and I know what her answer would be. I miss her terribly, but I still feel she’s here and that’s a lovely feeling.
Family is more than blood
I don’t know what it’s like to have a child of my own and it wasn’t for the want of trying. When people ask me if I regret this, I find it difficult to say ‘yes,’ because I’m not sure I’d have the relationship with my stepdaughters [Claudia 27, Amelia 29, and Lily 30, the daughters of Anthea’s ex-husband Grant Bovey]. We don’t have an umbilical cord relationship, but a connection based on love and history. Claudia was two when she came into my life and the others werefive and six. We genuinely like each other and there’s a deep love.
Life is fragile
When my second husband Grant Bovey entered stage left, I was out of my depth. For a time, 13 photographers were outside my house, including one in a tree. I was worried what to say and I was trying to put on a brave face. For a long time, I found life really difficult. The ex
