Richard Madeley addresses 'most difficult time' in family life after relationship issues
For almost 40 years, Richard Madeley has been a fixture on British TV, taking in shows such as This Morning, Richard and Judy and, latterly, Good Morning Britain. And for all that time, he has also been father to Chloe, who has had to manage growing up with two celebrity parents.
Now, Richard has confessed that he found some years of Chloe’s life – especially her early dating adventures – “difficult” to deal with: “I found Chloe’s early twenties the most difficult time, when she was moving from one relationship to the next,” He told The Times in an unearthed interview from last year.
“Some [relationships] were clearly not going to work — one of the great gifts of good parenting is knowing when to keep your mouth shut, but I was vigilant.”
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Speaking before Chloe’s shock split from husband James Haskell, he added: “I wanted her to have the kind of stability she finally found with James.” Chloe and James separated towards the end of 2023, after a decade together.
She had been catapulted into the public eye at the age of 21, presenting four episodes of Big Brother's Big Mouth in 2008. Since then, she has competed in several reality shows – including Dancing On Ice and The Jump – and can currently be seen in ITV’s At Home With the Madeleys.
The four-part show follows Chloe as she “navigates complex family dynamics, a busy career and motherhood” as well as featuring her TV royalty parents as “doting grandparents”.
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With the recent split from her England rugby star husband, Chloe has been in the news for less happy reasons too. But Richard says that they have learned to ignore the drama: “Chloe and I both wake up to storms on social media almost every day,” he says.
“It only matters if you think it matters. Gary Lineker has ripped into me several times but it’s water off a duck’s back.
Chloe says that, when it comes to her dad, what you see is what you get: “Dad’s the same in the kitchen, cooking Sunday lunch, as he is on TV. He loves attention and, whatever happens, including classic Dad gaffes, he never breaks a sweat.”
But with her mum, she says, it’s a different story: “People think they know Mum, but the soft, fuzzy maternal figure on the This Morning sofa was an act. No one has seen the real her. She’s serious and tough, with a phenomenal brain.”