Carol Vorderman shares relationship update on 'special friends' and says 'moved on'

-Credit: (Image: PA)
-Credit: (Image: PA)


Carol Vorderman has cheekily updated on her singleton status with a four-word quip. The acclaimed television personality, celebrated for her 26 years on Countdown and stints in both the 2016 and latest 2023 editions of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, is not currently hitched.

Carol, 63, has married twice, first tying the knot with Naval Officer Christopher Mather at the tender age of 24 in 1985. They split a year later.

In 1989, she ventured down the aisle once more with media figure and management consultant Patrick King, resulting in the birth of two children, Katie and Cameron. They eventually separated in 2000.

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Never one to sidestep questions regarding her romantic endeavors, Vorderman has been forthright about her preference for seeing multiple partners over committing to a single individual, articulating the sentiment of freedom it brings her during a candid chat with the Loose Women panel. Her "special friends" accord her the liberty to indulge in favourite pastimes such as camping expeditions without the constraints of a serious relationship.

During her conversation, she divulged: "When you're growing up as a young girl, you're told you should have one partner and that suits a lot of people. But we all have women and girlfriends who are getting older going, 'I wouldn't mind if (my partner and I) lived in separate houses.' I do feel free."

The mother of two, who now counts three "special friends" instead of the five from before, explained to The Times: "Life's moved on," she says with a shrug. "It's free-spirited. There's no sense of ownership, but it works.

"I haven't had many relationships but I've had a couple of bad ones - they're a gamble. I love being single. I couldn't think of anything worse than being with a full-time partner. Most women, even happily married ones, would say if something happened to their partner they'd feel the same. They to me say, 'Yay! Good for you! '".

After joining the select dating app Raya, she reports being swamped with attention from both men and women on the elite platform. Carol, renowned for her outspoken views on personal and political matters, has divulged that shes throwing herself into activism amid a worrying escalation in violence against women and girls.

She admitted without pretence: "But there's no plan," adding, "I just know I have the devil in me. And if I'd listened to anybody else and done what they said I should do, I'd have a different, much smaller life."