lorraine kelly Exclusive Interview

Lorraine Kelly is a national treasure, and it seems there’s nothing the daytime television presenter can’t turn her hand to. Already a journalist, fashion designer and fitness guru, now the 56-year-old media personality is turning her hand to home furnishings. It won’t be too long before people can say that they are sitting on a Lorraine while watching one! The Glasgow-born star has been on our television screens for over 30 years. She first popped up on TV-AM as their Scotland correspondent in October 1984, and six years later became one of the breakfast channel’s main presenters. She also helped launch GMTV and its replacement Good Morning Britain, earning herself millions of fans around the country.

In 1992, she married Steve Smith her cameraman from her TV-AM days; their daughter Rosie, 21, is currently studying journalism at Edinburgh Napier University. While Lorraine spends weekdays at her flat in London for work, she’s always more than happy to jet back to the family home in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, every weekend. Here, we sit down with Lorraine for a spot of afternoon tea at The Savoy in London’s West End to hear all about dealing with being shy, how she copes with a long-distance relationship, and why she thinks couples who do not talk are the saddest thing in the world…

You obviously do a lot of travelling every week, but would you describe yourself as a home bird?

I do love being at home. When I’m in London I do not tend to go out very much because of the hours that I work! I recently went out to see [West End musical] Kinky Boots and loved it. My perfect Friday night is sitting in the kitchen, Steve is making the tea and I have a glass of wine and we are having a chat. Then on a Saturday night we will have some pals round for dinner.

Do you think having a long-distance relationship has helped keep your 24-year marriage fresh?

It wouldn’t work for everyone but it certainly works for us. In some ways it is quite nice as we really look forward to seeing each other and having a massive catch-up at the weekend. It’s good.

Do you think it is helped keep the romance alive a bit?

It definitely keeps the romance alive, for sure. It stops you taking each other for granted. I do not ever want to be one of those couples that you see out having dinner and they are not talking to each other. I do not mean that they are on their phones, although that is really bad as well, but they have literally got nothing to say to each other. I think that is one of the saddest things in the world.

Has it become any easier saying goodbye to Steve when you fly to London every week?

Sometimes it is really hard to leave, especially if it is a miserable day and you think the flight will be a bit bumpy. Steve will have made a fire and it feels all cosy. But I’m coming down to London to do a job that I absolutely love. I feel very lucky to have that option still.

Can you remember a time when it was any different for the two of you?

Well, Steve was my cameraman so we used to see each other 24/7! Then we moved south, but when we moved back to Scotland there was always this thing that I would come home at the weekend.

Does Rosie come home every weekend, too?

Not as much as she did when she first went to university and needed her washing doing! But she still comes home and we go to watch Dundee United. Or I will get on a train to Edinburgh. FaceTime is a brilliant way of keeping in touch.

How is Rosie getting on with her studies?

She’s graduating this year and I have no idea what she’s going to do. She has so many different options. I think she might do a bit of travelling.

Rosie’s done some work experience in television and PR as well as journalism. Has she had any more thoughts about her career?

She’s a very good writer. Whatever she wants to do, I will be right behind her. But she paddles her own canoe and that’s great.

You’ve said you are actually a shy person. How did you overcome that?

I am quite shy! If Steve and I go out, he is the one who is the life and soul of the party. If we have friends around, Steve is always the one who does most of the talking. He’s much more sociable than me. I tend to be quiet maybe it is because I spend all week talking [laughs]!

Are you just good at covering your shyness up on the telly?

I think that’s mad [laughs]! For me, Bette Davis is an icon. Madonna is an icon. At the end of the day I’m just a very lucky girl who happens to be on the telly.

How did your Lorraine At Home By JD Williams collection come about?

It was really just from doing the clothing range, so it made perfect sense. We started talking about it this time last year and then I started jotting down some ideas. It’s very much like the stuff I have in my own house.

How involved were you in the collection?

It’s been such a learning curve and I have learnt so much from every stage of the process.

I think if you put your name to something, you have to be 100 per cent involved. What’s the point otherwise?

Where did you get your inspiration?

I really wanted to have a little bit of Scotland in there. It’s subtle checks and reflects Broughty Ferry, where I live. The beach, duck egg blue skies and the textures from the beach, stones and wood. It’s all about being a home, not a house.

Have you always taken a keen interest in the furnishings in your homes?

I have always been interested in it. I’m very lucky I have a tiny bolt-hole in London and our family home in Scotland is a four-bedroom Arts And Crafts house that dates back to the30s.

How is your family home furnished?

I do not like a lot of clutter but I like things that mean something. I do not really have anything that’s expensive in my home, but I have got things that mean a lot, like the statute of the god Ganesh that I bought when I was in India with my brother.

If your house caught fire, what would you save first?

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