Paxman and his new love.. 29 years younger
TV star ‘living with Jillian, 37’ after split from his kids’ mother
JEREMY Paxman is believed to be living with his new girlfriend after the 37-year-old book editor was spotted leaving his home.
It comes after it emerged the former Newsnight host, 66, split from his longterm partner Elizabeth Clough last year.
Canadian divorcee Jillian Taylor, who is almost 30 years younger than Paxman, is now reportedly sharing the broadcaster’s £1.5million home, which they were seen leaving together yesterday morning.
But despite being known for his interrogational style of interview, Paxman was tight-lipped about the relationship with his former researcher.
Asked if he would comment on it, he told reporters, “No, goodbye”, before the couple got into a chauffeur-driven car outside his pad in West London.
Jillian has worked on two books with Paxman. It is thought they met in 2010, when she helped him write his bestseller Empire: What Ruling The World Did To The British.
In the acknowledgements, he described her as “conscientious, imaginative and astonishingly industrious”. The pair were pictured walking along the street together the following year.
Jillian also worked on his 2013 book Great Britain’s Great War. Paxman said in the acknowledgements she was “probably the perfect researcher – bright, resourceful,
She’s probably the perfect researcher, bright, cheerful, resourceful and indefatigable JEREMY PAXMAN ON JILLIAN TAYLOR IN HIS BOOK’S ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
cheerful and indefatigable”. And he wrote: “I thank Jillian Taylor, whose Stakhanovite capacity for research continues to amaze. I had no sooner asked a question than she had answered it.”
Paxman and Elizabeth, his partner of more than 30 years, are believed to have separated in November. Elizabeth, 64, is reportedly “devastated” about the split.
In a statement issued on Friday, an agent for the broadcaster said: “Jeremy Paxman and his partner separated last year. They retain a mutual respect for each other and a deep love for their children.”
The pair, who met while working for the BBC, lived together in a farmhouse near Henley-on-Thames, Oxon. They have three children, Jessica, 26, and 19-year-old twins Jack and Victoria.
In 1998, Paxman was linked to then 36-year-old television executive Joanna Cecil but has refused to discuss the
claims. The BBC host is no stranger to family trauma. Last year, he said in an interview: “Family relationships don’t resonate happily with me.”
It came as he released his autobiography A Life in Questions, in which he described his bitterness towards his dad Keith, who abandoned the family for a new life in New Zealand when Paxman was in his 20s.
The broadcaster wrote that his feelings “ranged from resentment to passionate hatred”. He flew out to see him prior to Keith’s death in 2010 as, he explained, he was “slightly concerned in case I was becoming him”.
Paxman also opened up about his struggles with depression and admitted suffering something “pretty like” a breakdown after becoming a war reporter. He said: “I’ve spent several years seeing a therapist. I don’t see any reason to be ashamed of saying I’ve suffered depression.”