Loose Women's Andrea McLean reveals heart-wrenching family conversation post-divorce

Andrea McLean, announcing her engagement to her first husband Nick Green in 1998
-Credit: (Image: PA)


Andrea McLean from Loose Women was deeply moved during a heartfelt conversation with her daughter Amy after the breakdown of her second marriage.

While speaking on the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast, hosted by Giovanna Fletcher, Andrea McLean narrated her personal experiences from pregnancy to parenting and dealing with life's unexpected challenges.

During her talk with Giovanna, she delved into how she tackled the tough topic of her divorces with her children Finlay and Amy.

Andrea first married BBC producer Nick Green, father to Finlay, but the relationship ended in divorce. She then wed Steve Toms, her co-presenter from Our House, with whom she had her daughter, Amy, in November 2006.

The couple exchanged their vows in an idyllic summer wedding in August 2009, cleverly scheduled during the summer hiatus of Loose Women. However, the union came to an abrupt end when Andrea announced in January 2012 that they had separated, following a year of trying to make things work, reports the Mirror.

Getting personal on the podcast, Andrea disclosed to Giovanna: "I commuted to Loose Women and never told anyone that I was now living at mum and dad's. And then I came back down to Surrey and I told [the kids] that [Steve] had gone away with work."

She went further to explain how she softly broached the subject of their new family dynamic with her children, saying: "Then I just introduced slowly the idea that he wasn't going to be living with us any more. So we're going to have a new house and we're going to move somewhere else. But he's very close by and you are loved and you are safe."

Andrea fondly recalled a touching conversation with her teenage daughter Amy that left her teary-eyed as they looked back on the past. Andrea reflected, "Years later, many years later, Amy was a teenager. She mentioned something and I realised that the time was now to tell her a fuller version of events."

She continued, recounting how her daughter's words deeply moved her, "So I told her the fuller version and she said to me something that... oh my gosh it choked me up at the time and still chokes me. She said 'oh my goodness mummy. You were like Mrs Incredible. You stretched over the top of the two of us. And it's like we were sitting on the floor playing and we didn't even notice the bullets were bouncing off you. And you just kept us safe'."

With emotion, Andrea shared her response: "And I said 'yep, that's what I was trying to do until you're ready to know and understand. And now you do. I'm here for you. But now I'm walking alongside you'."

Even after her two divorces, Andrea highlighted the significance of maintaining a neutral position, so her children could form their own opinions about their fathers.

Andrea underscored the principle with these words: "I felt it was very important for me with both of my children that whatever the situation is that happened between me and your dad is between me and your dad. Your relationship is your relationship with you and your dad. And I have no right to try and poison that or discolour that."

Completing a journey filled with personal growth and new beginnings, Andrea married businessman Nick Feeney in November 2017, thanks to a blind date set up by Donna May Clitheroe, the Loose Women makeup artist.