Lucy Kennedy is up to ninety when we speak, but in her typically laid back kind of way. She explains that she is happiest when busy.
The radio and TV presenter, whose show Living with Lucy is back on our screens this week, also co-host the Classic Hits Radio breakfast show with Colm Hayes. She is also the author of the children's book series The Friendship Fairies (the fifth book is out soon).
She says, "I cannot believe that book number five is out. Honestly, for about three years, every New Year’s Eve I was like, 'Right starting tomorrow, I am not going to swear, I am going to join the gym; I am going to write a book… I am this, I am that.’ You know, there was always like 85 things on my list. Then five years ago, something inside me went, ‘Just do it. Stop talking about it and just do it.’ And so, I did it. Thank goodness my books are still loved. I am currently writing number six. I just love it. I don’t know if this is going to be the last book in the series or not. I might just write about Friendship Fairies indefinitely, forever. There is something very therapeutic about it."
Her own kids, Jack (13), Holly (11) and Jess (6) with husband Richard Governey were a big inspiration for the books.
"I think when you have young children you can’t help but see life through their eyes. The wonders. They find life exciting, and they make it exciting again for adults too. So yes, without a shadow of a doubt, they are. Holly is 11 now so she is on the cusp of becoming cool, whereas Jess is still very much my audience. I force my children to read my books! The other day I got some sneaky pre-copies. I signed copies and left them on their pillows and the next morning, Jack’s was on the floor!"
Trust our loved ones to keep us grounded. "My plan is for all our children to live in our garden. I never want them to ever leave. Rich obviously thinks I am a psycho, but he has known that for 23 years. He just takes a breath and says, ‘God, hopefully this will pass.’ So yes, I want them all to grow up and travel and then come home and live in the garden. It is not even a big garden. But I am sure we will figure something out. Our dog Riley already lives three and she is the size of a small horse. We love her."
Lucy says that the feedback she gets for her children’s books still means as much as ever. "Because I have three different hats – my telly hat, my radio hat and my book hat. Usually when people stop me, I am expecting them to say ‘Who is your favourite person to live with? Or how the hell did you cope with Daniella Westbrook?’ But nowadays people might say, ‘My child learned to read with your book.’ And no disrespect to radio or TV, because I love them too, but that is so rewarding. It is such an honour to be a child’s first book."
Lucy is showing no signs of losing momentum. The return of Living with Lucy is just around the corner.
"I am most proactive and efficient when I am literally choc-a-bloc, and then when I am lying on a sun lounger in Portugal, I have no creative thoughts whatsoever. I think I am best busy. I am a busy person. I am a professional busy body. I have the same thirst for it like I did 55 celebrities ago. Can you believe it? 55 celebrities and I love it.
"The beautiful thing about the format is it’s always different. The only consistency is that I have my destroyed Dunnes suitcase and the crew. Everything else is different. I love that every time I ring that doorbell it is a different guest so it is not a format that I would ever get bored of. I want to do Living with Lucy forever."
Lucy is entirely herself in the show, no bells or whistles or glam squad. "Yes, I love that. I am totally at ease with who I am. Several English celebrities have gone, ‘Oh my God! You are the presenter?’ Because I will rock up drawing in my eyebrows as I am interviewing them. I always had this sense that, ‘You can’t expect someone to be who they are, if you’re not going to be who you are.’ So, I always remain true to myself.
"We have got Katie Price, Richie Sadlier, Des Cahill, Simon Gregson – who I absolutely adore: he is Steve McDonald on Coronation Street. He is the nicest man in England."
What was Katie like?
"Katie was very interesting. I had slight reservations with her because she is so media savvy and she has been there, done that, 56 times. I did wonder how she would be with me, but she was sweet. We rocked up to the Mucky mansion, which is mucky in parts but overall, it is this beautiful, old, Tudor style mansion that in parts needs renovation. But I also live in an old house, so I quite liked the quirky creaks and the cracks in the ceiling. There is a lot of character to her house, as there is to her.
"Her youngest children Jess and Bunny were there, and Harvey was there too [Katie’s son has intellectual challenges]. He was adorable. Big hugs. He would say to me, ‘Lucy, you look lovely’ every morning. Then I met Kate’s on/off boyfriend Carl, who was lovely and sound and obviously mad about her. I just saw a mum who is mad about her children."
If she had to pick a favourite?
"Richie Sadlier was lovely. He is such a fascinating person, and it is quite funny because he obviously thought I was bonkers. His wife Fiona and I bonded so much so that Richie was saying, ‘Do you want to interview me?’ Every time we sat down, I would be like, ‘Richie, I know you are analysing me! I know you are. I just kept on waiting for him to go, ‘Lucy you have serious issues.’ So, living with a psychotherapist was very different for me. I was like, ‘God, I feel like I want to tell you all my problems.’
"When I stayed with Simon Gregson, I had this minor bladder infection so I couldn’t really drink alcohol. And it was the first weekend in a long time that I thought, ‘Of all the people that I would love to go on the tiles with, it would have been Simon Gregson and his crazy wife Emma.’ I kept drinking loads and loads of water to try and flush it out. It was quite funny and they were calling me ‘The Irish dolphin’. Every time they looked around, I was chugging water. But I would love to go back. If ever I do a ‘Revisited’, I am going to go on the absolute lash with Simon and his wife."
Lucy’s radio show is, she says, going great guns too.
"It is going from strength to strength, and it is still with my absolute best friend Colm Hayes, who I adore. It is on dark mornings, tired mornings, hungover mornings, hormonal mornings, you really realise who you can work with. We laugh every morning and them at 1.30pm, I collect Jess I am then in Mum mode until bed.
"Every day I say I am tired and then nighttime comes, and I am emptying the dishwasher at 11 o’clock. So, I need to get better at it, but I love it all."
