Fern Britton has said that she did not expect to feel "really relaxed" following the end of her 20-year marriage.
In a new interview with Good Housekeeping, the former This Morning presenter has reflected on being single after she split from celebrity chef Phil Vickery.
Britton announced the break-up of her marriage to Vickery in January 2020, shortly after the death of her father, actor Tony Britton, in December 2019.
Speaking to Good Housekeeping, Britton said: "My children are grown-up and I'm no longer married, and it's as if this whole other world has opened up.
"I never thought this would happen; I didn't expect to be 65 and single and really relaxed."
Britton and Vickery had appeared on the show Ready Steady Cook and wed in 2000.
Announcing their break-up on Twitter, she said the couple had decided to go their "separate ways".
Talking about her health, Britton said that a switch had been flipped a year ago when she grew a desire to get fitter and healthier.
"About a year or so ago, I realised that I wasn't looking after myself - physically or mentally," she said.
"I wasn't doing exercise, I was eating too much and suddenly, it was like I flipped a switch and I thought, 'No, you've got to look after yourself'.
"So I started doing that, and it's given me a new sort of energy.
"I do a bit of yoga and I've started doing the couch to 5k running app.
"I'm very slow, I've got arthritis in one of my knees and I'm about to have a shoulder replacement, but I just thought, 'It's only three miles, come on!'
"I'm not intending to run a long marathon or beat anybody, but I do enjoy the fitness side of it."
Britton is also known for presenting the ITV breakfast programme This Morning, which she left in 2009.
Discussing the possibility of making a return, she said: "I don't think I'd be able to turn the clock back; it wouldn't work that way.
"My time at This Morning was marvellous and I adored the 10 years I was there, but I feel you should never look back."
The full interview with Fern Britton in the August 2023 issue of Good Housekeeping is available now.
Source: Press Association
