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Widely acknowledged to be one of Scotland’s finest exports, Lorraine Kelly is everything you expect her to be and more away from her legendary sofa. Curling up for an exclusive chat and a cuppa with the queen of daytime TV for Notebook is an absolute treat. Funny, gossipy and wise, the 65-year-old presenter has managed to stay true to herself in a dazzlingly successful broadcasting career that has spanned over four decades. That is no mean feat in the ever-changing cut-throat media and television world . Yet one of the constants in her life has always been her husband, Steve Smith , a former TV-AM cameraman, who she affectionately calls “my Steve”. In the background, quietly supporting her, she looks animated as she talks about him. “We never take each other for granted because that is so easy to do in a long marriage,” she says. “It’s also important to us that Steve very much has his own life as well as our life together. We’ve both got our own interests and friends. I do think it is important to have your own space. It gives you more to talk about and he makes me laugh, he’s my rock.” The couple met at TV-AM in the 1980s, and then married in 1992 . They celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary in September and are happier than ever. Lorraine adds mischievously that Steve actively follows her show’s Change + Check campaign , which encourages women to check their breasts regularly and raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. “I always say, check yourself, or get the person in your life to do it, because they probably know your boobs better than you do. And Steve is selfless in that department! A martyr. He’ll go, ‘Oh, alright then.’” Basically, then, they still really fancy each other a lot. She giggles infectiously. “Yeah. Obviously! Of course. That’s important too, all that malarkey. It’s not the main thing, but it’s important. The thing he does do, on the rare occasions I might wear something a little lower cut than normal on my show, he sends me a wee text to say, ‘Nice boobies!’ So he appreciates that.” Over the years, Lorraine has often featured in polls of TV celebrity crushes and her male guests have been known to flirt outrageously with her. Jon Hamm, Ryan Reynolds , Harry Styles … the roll call is endless. Niall Horan even confessed in an interview that he was “obsessed” with her. What does Steve think about that? “Oh, he knows it’s all silly and just daft. He thinks it’s hilarious,” she says. But even Lorraine can get a little hot under the collar. On the day we speak, she had jus t interviewed George Clooney for his new movie, Jay Kelly. And he specifically asked to be on her show. “It still makes me think: I can’t believe George Clooney actually knows my name!” she admits. Last year she won a Bafta Special Award in recognition of her 40-year career in television. Her work has been a huge part of her identity. So Lorraine is honest when she says that she was taken aback when ITV announced cuts to the daytime schedules earlier this year. Her morning show Lorraine will be slashed to just 30 weeks a year from January. However, she has processed it now and sounds philosophical. “I’m fine. I’m a realist. It was hard but to be totally honest, the main focus for me was to save as many jobs as possible and the great thing is a lot of them are being kept on. I’m hoping most of my team will be alright – we’ll find that out pretty soon.” And in August last year, her own life pivoted when her writer daughter Rosie, 31, welcomed her own little girl, Billie, now 14 months. Becoming a grandmother has changed her life for the better and Lorraine says that her new role has taught her to create more time for the people she loves and give her joy. “Don’t go out with people you don’t like – spend more time babysitting!” she smiles. Openly admitting she “pushes the boat out” spoiling Billie, she is currently showering her with Minnie Mouse gifts. “Minnie is her new obsession. So, of course, I’ve been straight online getting all things Minnie. She’s probably oversaturated and bored now!” she laughs. “Billie’s so gorgeous. She’s crawling, nearly walking, she’s talking rubbish and she’s wonderful. Her lovely little face lights up when she sees me, she’s my wee sunshine. She’s got such a great temperament. Sometimes she calls me Banana, sometimes it’s Nana. I don’t care, I’ll answer to anything. “With Rosie and working so hard, it was rush rush to get her to eat, read a story, sleep – now I can take my time and savour it all. And on the rare occasions Billie stays with me and Steve, it’s the best thing in the world.” Away from the limelight, family means everything. The relatable star is close to her mum Anne, who lives in East Kilbride, just outside Glasgow, and is a regular visitor to Lorraine’s beautiful riverside Buckinghamshire cottage, as much as her health will allow [she has a kidney condition]. “My mother is unbelievable. She’s a stoic and mum is where my brother Graham and I get our work ethic from,” Lorraine says. Right now, Lorraine is counting down the days to her daughter Rosie’s wedding next July to fiancé Steve White in Perthshire, saying the day will be a mix of “our family, his family and friends”. “We’re going to look at wedding dresses, me, and Rosie, her maid of honour Amber and Mark Heyes [the fashion stylist from Lorraine’s show]. It will be like an episode of Say Yes To The Dress. “But I did say to Rosie, ‘You do realise with all this planning about what you’re going to wear, in reality, all eyes will be on Billie Boo as the flower girl! She’ll steal the show.’” In the new daytime shake-up, Mark Heyes is still a presenter on her morning show, as is LA correspondent Ross King, a recent contestant on BBC ’s Strictly Come Dancing. Lorraine admits that his stint [he was the second celebrity to be eliminated] reinforced the fact that she could never appear on the show. “It didn’t inspire me. Quite the opposite. I realised how nerve-wracking it is, and how it takes over your life. I couldn’t. Not in a million years. I’d be rubbish. Not funny rubbish. Just rubbish! But it was great to have someone in it who I know really well,” Lorraine says. However, she is more than prepared to take on new challenges, and the way her writing career has taken off has delighted her. Her debut novel The Island Swimmer , set in her beloved Orkney, was a Sunday Times bestseller, and now her second novel is almost finished. “It’s a follow-up and will be coming out next year,” she says. “Writing the second book has been a lot harder than the first, it has taken a while to get there. The deal with the publishers is four books in all, so I have another two books to write but they will be very different. There might be a little bit of an Orcadian connection as you can find their diaspora everywhere in the world.” On the subject of travel, she has a new three- part documentary series, Lorraine Kelly’s Norwegian Odyssey, coming out in the New Year on Channel 4 . “It’s come at the right time. I absolutely loved it. I’ve wanted to do travel for ages and I’ve been putting up ideas. If this goes well, Greenland is next on my wish list,” she says. She also reveals that she was asked to appear in the BBC hit Celebrity Traitors but it didn’t work out. “Sadly,” she says. “But Kate Garraway has been flying the flag for daytime.” Lorraine insists that she is comfortable about ageing. “I don’t mind. In many ways I wouldn’t want to be young just now, it’s really hard with social media. I wouldn’t have been able to handle all that. “When I interviewed George Clooney , he said something about age and I told him I was almost 66 [on 30 November] and he said, ‘Well you don’t look it.’ God bless George. I’ll take that .” Her new-look show kicks off in January. Of the new format, she says, “Essentially it will be the same. A different studio and it will be shorter and tighter. I’ll still have all the things that make it what it is, great guests, campaigns. “We tell stories. That’s what we do. I’ve said I’m going to do it, and I will give it my best shot. That’s what I always try to do.” Lorraine is on weekdays at 9am on ITV1 * Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
