Robert Peston on feeling 'desperately guilty' about finding love after his wife's death

Robert Peston has opened up about feeling disloyal to his wife after falling in love again after her death.

In 2012 the ITV political editor's wife, the author Sian Busby, died from lung cancer. This summer he moved in with his long-term girlfriend Charlotte Edwardes, the diary editor at The Evening Standard, and her three children. 

The pair first crossed paths while working together for The Sunday Telegraph in 2003 but didn't meet again until they were both "on a dance floor at a Christmas party" many years later. 

Now, Peston has described the guilt he felt at moving on after his wife's death and spoken candidly about the 'endless' conversations he had with a grief counsellor about his new relationship.

The father of two, who rose to prominence through his reporting on the financial crash of 2008, also revealed he found women were "predatory" towards him because of his role as a television presenter. 

'I think there is a stalky thing that happens and I think women (presenters) talk about it more than men normally. You have to be slightly careful," he said. 

Peston, 59, said his widow status also seemed to make him attractive to women which is why he was drawn to girlfriend Charlotte, who had "no idea" about his life.

"She didn't have a clue who I was when we met again," Peston told The Sunday Times magazine. "She was the only person that I came across around that period who literally knew almost nothing about the BBC stuff or Sian or anything."

The pair went public with their relationship in October last year and moved in together this year. Peston said he was enjoying being a step-parent to her three children, aged 13, 11 and ten, but admitted it could be complicated. 

The journalist said at first he "definitely" felt disloyal by falling in love again and discussed it "endlessly" with a grief counsellor because he felt "desperately guilty". 

Speaking to the Telegraph last year, Peston spoke about falling in love with Charlotte and the difficulty of moving on.  

“Life is unpredictable,” he said at the time. “A year after Sian died, a very famous business person I won’t name came up to me and said: ‘Why haven’t you got a girlfriend?’ And it just didn’t compute as a question because at the time it felt inconceivable that I would ever fall in love again. I was suffering from quite severe trauma, and it took a long time… so this was and is a very nice surprise.”

Ms Edwardes' children attend fee-paying schools - establishments Peston has previously criticised vocally. He said the premise of public schools still made him feel "queasy" but told the magazine: "Decisions were made about Charlotte's kids before I was on the scene and I do think the thing that matters most is the kids have minimum disruption to their lives."

Peston chose not to speak publicly about his two sons – Maximilian, 20, and Simon, 32, Busby’s son with her first husband Kees Ryninks – but he did say they both “get on well with Charlotte, which is lovely.” 

When asked if he ever thought about what his late wife would make of his new partner, he said: “I do, and although they’re very different personalities and they would probably have a pretty robust conversation, they’re also both very smart and inquiring and I think they would like each other.”