Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Fern: I’ve had my Phil of men... now, I’m enjoying not sharing
While ex-husband is linked to a sheep farmer, Fern Britton has vowed to stay single.
Vickery
Phil
The presenter says she looking to find love.
“I am enjoying not having to share life with somebody else,” she says. “I’m not a man-hater. Men are great.
“I don’t think I’m prepared to hand over my autonomy just yet.”
Fern, 63, split from chef Phil, 59, in January after 20 years of marriage. Over the weekend, Phil was reported is not to be flirting with shepherdess Alison O’neill. Fern – who was previously married to TV exec Clive Jones for 12 years – admits she misses some of the companionship marriage brings.
“That’s not to say I don’t miss being married, because I have been married to two incredible husbands for over 30 years, so I have been married for a very long time – two very interesting men who survived being married to me.
“It is difficult and it is painful but let’s skip over that... I am not looking for anybody else.”
Fern has just moved house and now says that being single means she can choose its decor by herself. “I have autonomy over my time and what I want to do,” she says.
Now living with three of her four children, a cat and her “grand dog” – her daughter’s dog – Fern says her house is “full of love”.
When she and Phil split, she said: “We needed to follow our own paths.”
Fern, speaking at the virtual Henley Literary Festival, says she plans to continue writing books until she turns 70, when she will embark on a roundthe-world cruise.