Julia: How IVF ended my career on Countryfile
...and why I went to a psychiatrist after ‘hitting the buffers’
WHEN Julia Bradbury quit as a presenter of BBC1’s Countryfile, it sparked rumours that rivals ITV had lured her away with the offer of a lucrative contract.
But Julia has now revealed the real reason why she walked away: she had embarked on gruelling IVF treatment which clashed with her intensive filming schedule.
In an exclusive interview in today’s Event magazine, Julia, 46, says: ‘I could not keep up so I decided, for the first time in my career, to make a personal decision that overtook my work.
‘With IVF you need to be somewhere every couple of days. There was a stage when I was filming in Scotland and I was desperately trying to find a GP… and I thought, “This is not going to work.”’
The fertility treatment was successful and Julia gave birth to twins Zena and Xanthe, who are now nearly two. The star also has a five-year-old son called Zephyr.
Julia also reveals she had psychiatric sessions in her 30s to help her through ‘relationship difficulties’, and adds: ‘I had hit the buffers.’