Carol Vorderman has opened up about her romantic life and shared advice for dating multiple people at one time.
The 62-year-old former Countdown host appeared on Monday’s instalment of This Morning (23 January), explaining that she is single but has “special friends” who she is romantically involved with.
Earlier this month, Vorderman previously revealed to This Morning‘s Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary that she had five special friends. The star returned to screens on Tuesday to discuss her approach further and offer up advice to viewers.
Vorderman explained to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield that everyone involved needs to be single, which is a “critical part” of the arrangement. Explaining how she met her “special friends”, she said: “It’s come about naturally and I don’t want to settle with anyone.”
Vorderman revealed that she has known those involved for several years, one of which she has been friends with for 11 years. She shared that one rule she sets for herself when dating several men is to “do no harm”.
Carol confirmed that the romances aren’t short-lived “flings”, continuing: “It starts with friendship and there is an extra frisson.”
Viewers have praised Vorderman for her openness about her romantic life and for inspiring single women over 60 to take control of their romantic lives.
“What a very refreshing conversation and I think Carol Vorderman has shown that you can be free and independent and if people are aware of the situation then you can be free to love who you do and be HAPPY,” wrote one viewer on Twitter.
Another wrote: “Just watched @carolvorders chatting about her ‘special friends’ .. what an incredible example she is to older women. All single women should be free to follow any path they chose..”
In a recent interview, Vorderman insisted that she has made up her “female equivalent word” for the term “player”.
She told The Sun that she’s enjoying being in “no-strings attached” relationships with several men while claiming that “it was b******s” that women are told to find a man and settle down.
The media personality has been married twice, with her second marriage to management consultant Patrick King ending in 2000 after 10 years together. The TV personality, who shares two children with King, said she came up with her own word – “Boada” – to describe women who engage in shorter, more frequent and casual romantic relationships.
She explained: “In the past, you’d be called horrible words as a woman. A man is a ‘player’, but there is no female equivalent word. So I’ve made one up. I call it ‘Boada’, which is like Boadicea [the warrior queen of the ancient British Iceni tribe].”
