‘I have so much to celebrate this Christmas’

She’s turning 60 this month, publishing a self-help book and marking 35 years on screen. Lorraine Kelly tells Nathalie Whittle about her milestone year – and why she’s stopped striving for perfection

Lorraine Kelly on the joy of two very special anniversaries

Lorraine lives in Buckinghamshire with her husband, cameraman Steve Smith. Their grown-up daughter, Rosie, currently lives in Singapore.

MY SIZZLING SIXTIES

Turning 60 is a great excuse for

a lot of things. Not just a party (of course I’m having one!), but also saying yes to doing things that I wouldn’t dare do otherwise. I’ve done that a lot this year: I’ve said yes to appearing on Coronation

Street, and I’ve even said yes to a cameo in a Bollywood movie. And do you know what? It’s empowering.

I’ve always thought, ‘When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut,’ so I’m celebrating my milestone by learning to be one. Am I nervous? Oh yes! But I’m ridiculously excited, too. I’m going to be taken up in a plane where you lose gravity, then float around while doing all sorts of experiments. Worryingly, I’ve heard that a lot of people throw up. I’ll let you know how that goes…

I truly believe that there are no age limits. As soon as I hit 50, I came into my prime, it was like a switch. And now I feel like I could go on for years and years. It’s a great time to be in your 50s and beyond, because there’s none of this, ‘You can’t wear that,’ or ‘You can’t do that.’ Just look at my mum – she’s 78 and is never home. I’ve phoned her three times this week and my dad always answers with, ‘She’s at her book club,’ or ‘She’s at her German class.’ It’s fantastic.

STILL FEELING THE SPARK

The secret to feeling sexy at this age has a lot to do with the person you’re with. Steve doesn’t notice cellulite, he doesn’t notice the big scar on my leg, or any of that stuff, and he still fancies me. If you feel like somebody desires you and finds you sexy, then you feel it: at least I do. We’re lucky we’re not in that rut that many couples find themselves in, where all that side of things just goes, because it also plays a big part in keeping you young!

It’s almost two years since we moved to Buckinghamshire and that’s definitely been an adjustment. Before that, I lived in London during the week, then I’d spend the weekends with Steve in Scotland. I got very used to doing my own thing, and he did, too. So we’ve had to adapt to this new way of life together.

Even now, we’re not one of those couples who are in each other’s pockets all the time.

If that works for you, that’s absolutely fine, but we have our separate hobbies – I’ll go to my exercise classes and he might

‘As soon as I hit 50, I came into my prime, it was like a switch’

spend a weekend doing a big bike ride with his friends. For us, it’s important to have that time apart. And it means that when we come back together, we always have loads to talk about.

THE POWER OF SELF-HELP

Approaching 60 made me think, ‘How did I get here? What did I go through?’

That’s where the inspiration for my new self-help book, Shine, came from. I wanted it to be about sharing my experiences – good and bad. And if people can be helped, or laugh or learn anything from it at all, that’s a bonus.

I write a lot in the book about mental health and taking care of yourself

on the inside and out. I think feeling anxious is part of the human condition; we’ve all experienced it in some way. For me, it became dreadful during the menopause. I didn’t understand what was happening to me, why I felt so flat. Life was great; I had this amazing job, a fantastic husband and Rosie was doing well, but I couldn’t stop worrying about everything and anything.

I sought help from my GP, who advised me to try HRT, and it changed

my life. It was a patch on my bum twice a week, and while it might not work for everyone, it did for me. With those negative feelings lifted, I began to see that there are actually lots of positive aspects of the menopause – it’s quite freeing because, in many ways, it’s the beginning of a new chapter of your life.

Like anybody else, I still have down

days. I might wake up and think, ‘Oh gosh, I’m overwhelmed’, but I try to manage it by compartmentalising. I’ll approach things in bite-sized chunks and give myself little gaps in between. Fortunately, Steve is great in that sense.

I’m terrible for saying yes to everything, so he’s taught me a great piece of advice: if you’re asked to do something, whether it’s in two weeks or two months, would you want to do it if it was in an hour? It’s brilliant because it makes you stop and think, ‘Oh, actually, maybe not.’

MY SCREEN SECRETS

I can’t quite believe I’m celebrating

35 years on screen this year. I’ve been lucky, but TV can be pretty cut-throat. I’ve never had a plan, but to last this long, you have to graft and be willing to put the hours in. I worked my way in from a job at my local newspaper, before becoming a researcher and then a TV reporter. Only after that did I get into presenting. And I’m thankful for that. I don’t envy people who are parachuted into this world.

One of my biggest career highlights was meeting Oprah Winfrey. When I finished talking to her, she said, ‘That was a lovely interview, it was just like having a conversation.’ I couldn’t believe it: Oprah Winfrey thought I was good at interviewing! I felt as if I’d just died and gone to heaven.

Inevitably, there have been challenges

along the way. The toughest was when I had a miscarriage [in 2001] and I went back to work too soon. I said to myself,

‘If I just get back to work and get back to normal, everything will be fine.’ It wasn’t, of course; it was incredibly difficult. Everyone around me was so kind and considerate, but there were a lot of tears behind the scenes that nobody saw.

When you do any job, not just mine, you have to leave your troubles at

the door. That part hasn’t become any easier. Earlier this year, my dad was really ill and I was absolutely sick with worry. I was up and down to Scotland and it was hard. But I couldn’t go to work and say, ‘Oh, I feel really terrible, my poor dad isn’t well.’ I had to go in there and try to be positive. We’ve all done that, haven’t we?

In 35 years, my confidence has grown hugely on screen, but I’m still working

on it off screen. When I won an award at the TV Choice Awards recently and had to go up to make a little speech, I couldn’t hear anything because my heart was beating so fast. I find the whole red carpet thing really scary, too. When I’m standing there with a bank of photographers lined up in front of me, I feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights. At least by now,

I’ve learned how to stand without looking like a bag of washing!

CHRISTMAS PAST

I grew up in a relatively poor part of Glasgow, but Mum and Dad always worked hard to make Christmas special.

Santa was a huge deal and every Christmas Eve, my brother, Graham, and I would leave out a glass of whisky, a mince pie and a carrot on the table in front of our coal fire. Mum’s from a big family; she had eight siblings and often we’d all pile into my gran’s, which was total bedlam. We’d play with each other’s toys and eat sweets until we felt sick.

‘Feeling anxious is part of the human condition; we’ve all experienced it’

‘I’ve learned by now that there’s no such thing as perfection’

One year, Mum went all Charles Dickens on us and decided to cook goose – it was a complete disaster!

The goose looked fairly big, but when she cut into it, we discovered there was hardly any meat on it. We were all starving and ended up working our way through all the treats she’d bought for Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve – steak pies and all sorts. Moral of the story: goose is never a good idea.

When Rosie was born, Christmas

became even more magical. We lived in a house that was under the Heathrow flight path, so we’d always pick a plane that would go by and say, ‘Look, there’s Santa!’ I remember Phillip Schofield giving me a lovely tip: he told me that he always put glittery footprints on the floor and a little scrap of red velvet to show his kids that Santa had really been. Rosie was beyond thrilled when I started doing that.

...AND PRESENT

I still put out the stocking that Rosie’s

had since she was a baby. She’s in her 20s now, but she’d be really cross if she didn’t get it – complete with the Chocolate Orange in the toe. On Christmas Day, we all rise at about 8.30am, before a wee glass of Prosecco (that’s allowed on Christmas Day, isn’t it?) while we open our presents. Steve is wonderful and does all the cooking, while Rosie and I do the clearing up.

If my parents can’t make it, we’ll video chat after lunch, before we try to walk off all the turkey and pigs in blankets. Having said that, as soon as we’re home from our long walk, it’s time for turkey sandwiches and Christmas pudding!

Everybody strives for perfection at Christmas, but I’ve learned by now that

there’s no such bloody thing. I don’t stress about whether or not all my chairs or cutlery match. Who cares if that’s a different teaspoon to the rest? And my decorations are the same every year; our tree is full of old tartan Santas and teddies and baubles. At the top is my most prized possession – a snowman that Rosie made when she was four.

It’s wonky and falling apart, but that’s the beauty of it.

LOVE ME, LOVE MY DOG!

My best ever Christmas present was

our border terrier, Angus. I’ll never forget the moment we brought him home. Steve and I told Rosie we were going off to do some last-minute shopping, while secretly driving up to Chesterfield to collect him. At nine weeks old, he was tiny and we dressed him in this tiny little reindeer outfit for his arrival. As soon as Rosie saw him, she started screaming with joy.

Angus’s Christmas wardrobe has

expanded a lot. He has an elf outfit, a Santa outfit and even more antlers. But if he doesn’t like what he’s wearing, he’ll let you know. He’ll react by going rigid, and off it comes straight away.

• Lorraine is on ITV, weekdays 8.30am to 9.25am, with a special show on 29 November to celebrate her 60th

• Shine: Discover A Brighter You (Cornerstone) by Lorraine Kelly is out 31 October