On The Cover Trisha Goddard “I don’t see myself as a survivor”
Presenter Trisha Goddard has battledb mental health issues and breast cancer, but she’s now happier than ever…
Back in the Nineties and Noughties, Trisha Goddard was on our TV screens as the host of hit ITV daytime chat show, Trisha – delving into other people’s personal problems, from tearaway children to cheating spouses. Yet away from the limelight, Trisha had her own demons to wrestle. She was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after a breakdown in 1994. She went through romantic heartbreaks too. Her first husband, the Australian politician Robert Nestdale, subjected her to emotional abuse. Her second husband, Mark Grieve – father to her two daughters, Maddie and Billie – was unfaithful. In 2008, she was dealt another devastating blow when she found she had breast cancer.
So when Trisha’s show came to an end in 2011, she departed for pastures new. She took her series to the US and embarked on a new life there, finding relief away from the relentless media intrusion into her life.
“I would get panic attacks going out, and I remember having to be moved to a back room in the hospital for my cancer treatment, where the paparazzi couldn’t find me,” reflects Trisha, who is now thankfully cancer free. “I love England, I really do, but I know I wouldn’t have been left alone there. I’m much happier in the US. I live on the water and have such an amazing quality of life.”
Trisha, now 63, divorced her third husband, Peter Gianfrancesco, in 2017 after 20 years of marriage. She now lives with her new partner (who she met in 2018) on the Long Island Sound in Connecticut, where she paints an idyllic picture of days spent sailing, kayaking and hiking in the su rrounding countr yside.
Her beau’s name has not be en revealed – Trisha refers to him only as “hashtag Bo oo” – but the fact that he nu rsed his late wife through bre east cancer gave them an ins stant connection.
“I was very wary, having go ne through that, about op ening up to someone. I’m not t ashamed of my body but you u become aware of the cha anges after breast cancer. I kn new he’d been there and sta ayed the course with his wif fe. I’ve finally found true int imacy with him”
Asked whether she would con nsider marrying again,
Tris sha admits it’s not top of he r agenda. “I have no idea. As a woman, you’re made to fee el like you’re soiled goods wh hen you’re divorced. It ma akes me think, ‘Am I a fai lure?’ Then I think, ‘Hang on , does Rod Stewart feel tha at way?’. I have no idea wh hether we will get married, all I know is that I’m happy wh here I am now.”
As well as finding love and ha ppiness, Trisha has also dis scovered professional fulfifi fifilment. Even though her Tris sha show was short-lived in t the States, she now works on a host of other projects – sh e’s a regular contributor to CN NN and Good Morning
Britain and has just been announced as the host of a new weekend show on talkRADIO. In autumn, she’s fronting Channel 5’s You Are What You Eat, a reboot of the hit Channel 4 diet series, which ran from 2004 to
2007 and saw contestants slim down in eight weeks. Trisha replaces Gillian McKeith as the host and says it has a different feel.
“It’s not about fat shaming and being holier than thou. The approach is kinder and it recognises our emotional connection with
“I WAS VERY WA RY AT FIRST, BUT ALL I KNOW IS THAT I’M VERY HAPPYH WHERE I AM NOW”
food – between what’s in your head and what goes into your mouth.”
You Are What You Eat is the first British show that Trisha has presented for 12 years and it’s rumoured to be the start of a comeback. Specifically, there’s talk of her bringing back Trisha.
“Is it a comeback? Oh god, I hate that word!” says Trisha. “There are so many conversations going on and, yes, there has been a lot of interest. I don’t think another chat show would take the form that it did previously, though, because everything should move on and evolve. All I can say is that you’ll just have to wait and see!”
Trisha’s new radio show, The Week with Trisha, airs on talkRADIO every Saturday from 1-4pm. YouAreWhatYouEat is coming soon to Channel 5.