Fern Britton has headed into the Celebrity Big Brother house, as the iconic reality show made its return to television.
But who is Fern Britton? What shows has she hosted? Is she married? And what is she doing now?
Read on to find out more…
Celebrity Big Brother: Who is Fern Britton?
Fans of This Morning will know Fern from her days presenting the hit ITV show between 1999 and 2009.
Fern, now 66, is a TV presenter and author from London. Her first TV role came back in 1980 while she was working for Westward Television, where she was a newsreader.
The next time I have a facelift or have haemorrhoids I will let you know.
In 1981, she moved to the BBC, where she became the BBC’s youngest-ever national news presenter while working at Breakfast Time.
Roles at TVS, London Tonight, GMTV and Carlton Television followed.
Between 1994 and 2000, Fern presented Ready Steady Cook for the BBC.
When did Fern Britton leave This Morning?
From 1993, Fern was a guest presenter on This Morning, however, in 1999 she became the permanent host on Fridays alongside John Leslie.
In 2002, she and John got the hosting gig full-time. In 2002, Phillip Schofield replaced John.
Fern announced that she would be taking a break from This Morning in November 2008. In January 2009, she returned, only to announce two months later that she would be leaving the show after 10 years.
She subsequently pulled out of hosting The British Soap Awards, which she had fronted alongside Phillip between 2006 and 2008.
Celebrity Big Brother: Why did Fern Britton leave This Morning?
At the time, Fern admitted that she was leaving because she wanted to “explore other things”.
However, in the years since she has confessed she left because she felt like he was being “treated poorly”. There were also claims she felt like she was living in Phillip’s shadow.
Speaking on the Ray D’Arcy radio show, she said: “I began not to enjoy it so much and the morning I resigned, I didn’t know I was going to resign. Something happened and I just thought, that’s it really and I walked away and resigned,” she then continued.
“I was treated pretty poorly, actually. And after a while, I just thought, sod it. There was also a persistent rumour that I left because Phillip was being paid more than me and I always say to people: ‘Why would I leave a show to go to nothing if I was worried about money?'”
What happened between Fern Britton and Phillip Schofield?
Ever since she quit, there have been rumours that Fern was secretly feuding with her co-star, Phillip.
Though she has never addressed the alleged feud herself, Phillip has written of an incident between them that he believes led to her quitting.
Phillip wrote of the incident in his autobiography, Life’s What You Make It, which was released in 2020. In the book, Phillip explained what happened after Fern intervened with the content of a This Morning show.
“I walked back into the make-up room and calmly said: ‘Please don’t do that to me again,'” Phillip wrote. “I think, for whatever reason, that was the point Fern decided she didn’t want to do This Morning any more.”
Fern and Phillip’s ‘feud’
In 2013, Phillip revealed that he wasn’t in contact with Fern, despite working alongside her for the best part of seven years.
However, rumours of a feud were seemingly quashed in 2022, when Phil celebrated a milestone 40 years in showbiz.
In a specially recorded video shown on Lorraine, Fern said: “40 years is an incredible milestone and it’s time for you to stop and look back and see all that you have achieved and be proud of it. So I’m wishing you a very happy future. Congratulations and keep going.”
However, in 2023, during an interview with Good Housekeeping, Fern admitted she doesn’t speak to Phillip any more.
“We were involved in the show and mates at the time, but we don’t really [speak any more],” she said.
Celebrity Big Brother: Is Fern Britton married?
Fern has been married twice. Between 1988 and 2000, she was married to TV executive Clive Jones.
They met when Clive was still married and began an affair. However, Fern broke off their affair after a year. Two days later, Clive turned up on her doorstep having left his wife. They married in 1988 and had three children together, twins Harry and Jack (born 1994) and daughter Grace (born 1997).
However, their marriage broke down after Grace’s birth, and they separated in 1998. Their divorce was finalised in 2000.
In the years since the split, Fern revealed that an “immense rift” opened between them when she did a Mensa test and found her IQ to be higher than his.
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