Charlene White adores her Loose Women colleagues, but there’s one thing she’s not on board with them about, and that’s their insistence that she should get married.
The broadcaster, who appears on the ITV1 daytime show alongside the likes of Judi Love, Jane Moore, Denise Welch and Brenda Edwards, tells us her co-stars are smitten with the idea of her and her long-term partner Andy Woodfield getting hitched. But 42-year-old Charlene insists she’s in no rush.
“They’re obsessed with me getting married, but I’m happy with the way that we are and it kind of works for us,” she explains at the Circus Extreme launch night in west London.
“I know that a lot of the married Loose Women find that strange, but it works for us. And to be honest, we’re too busy raising two very young kids.”
Charlene has been with Andy since they met seven years ago and the star, who’s also an ITV news anchor, said she knew immediately that he was The One. Recalling how their paths first crossed, she says, “We met at a party. A traditional meet. I hadn’t quite ventured into the realms of online dating when we met, but I think if we hadn’t I would have done.”
Just one year after meeting, the couple, who live in south London, were expecting their first child, and Charlene and TV producer Andy are now proud parents to Alfie, five, and three-year-old Florence.
But despite coming under pressure from her workmates to tie the knot, Charlene tells us she’s incredibly close to all of her colleagues and can’t pick a favourite. “When we all get together it’s amazing and we all bring different things out of each other,” she explains. “And I think each one of us has a different relationship with the other women. Denise brings out my naughty side, Judi just makes me laugh continuously, Jane and I could have deep and meaningful conversations for hours because I adore that woman’s brain. So there’s not a single woman that I love more than the other.”
The ladies are so tight that they recently enjoyed a night on the town together, and Charlene admits that things got pretty raucous. “It was a leaving do for Loose Women’s deputy editor,” she says. “We were out and it got very late, but we were all well behaved… just!”
But who’s the biggest party animal among them, we wonder? Charlene doesn’t hesitate. “Oh Brenda I would say! She loves a party and I think I would have gone home had it not been for her dragging me out and making sure I had a really good night.”
It’s not just her Loose Women colleagues she’s close to. The presenter tells us that she’s still good pals with several of her I’m A Celebrity campmates following her stint in the jungle last year. “I’m going to stay with Sue [Cleaver] next week,” Charlene tells us. “But all of us are still in touch and Seann [Walsh] only lives down the road from me, and they’ve [Seann and his partner Grace Adderley] had their little one, who I’m hoping to go and see in a few weeks.”
We’re curious to know if Charlene, who was the first celebrity to be voted off the show, is still in touch with the former health secretary Matt Hancock, who was one of the more controversial figures in the camp.
“Well we all still talk – and especially when there was that awful attack on the Tube not long after we got back [Matt was attacked on the London Underground in January this year],” she says. “Of course we keep in contact with him and to make sure he’s alright. Only those who were there will know what we all went through, so that’s a bond I don’t think you’ll ever be able to take away.”
Charlene goes on to explain that they are still very supportive of each other’s careers, too. “We wish each other luck when things are coming up,” she says. “Baba [comic Babatunde Aleshe ] is on tour and doing phenomenally well, so there’s lots of cheerleading for him. Jill [Scott, the former England Lionesses football star] and Scarlette [Douglas, from A Place In The Sun] are going to be doing Soccer Six, so we’ve been wishing them lots of luck and we’ll probably go and see them in June. So we are still very much a group.”
It’s not surprising that the connection is still so strong between the contestants, given the various ordeals they went through together. Recalling the terrifying task where she was forced to stand on a ledge at the top of a skyscraper for 45 minutes, Charlene admits it was tough. “Jill and I were trying really hard to coax B [Babatunde] out, because we knew how much it meant to him to be able to conquer his fear of heights,” she says.
“So we spent a really long time trying to coax him out, and once he tapped out, it then took a while for health and safety to come and retrieve him, so I was battling being blown off that thing for 45 minutes. My thighs were absolutely killing me the next day!”
When we suggest she must be made of strong stuff, Charlene insists it was a fear of failure that got her through. “It’s adrenaline – it’s not wanting to fail at the first task – and also just the joy at being involved in the entire thing in the first place,” she tells us.
“I think if you stuck me on that roof right now, I don’t think I would be able to do it again. I think it was very much a moment in time.”
When asked if the jungle has given her a taste for more reality TV – Strictly, perhaps? – Charlene is adamant she’s not ready, saying, “No, I’m still recovering from the jungle. It takes a lot out of you – that’s not even in my mind.”
Besides, she’s perfectly happy with her two current roles at ITV – on Loose Women and anchoring the news. “They complement each other,” she says. “What’s nice is that all the information is already in my head by the time I get to Loose Women , with all the work I’ve done in the news. The thing I’ve loved my entire life is doing journalism, but then being able to use the fun side of me as well by doing Loose Women. I adore it, I really do.”
Like most of the I’m A Celebrity campmates, the presenter returned from Australia lighter than when she arrived, and as a result she has changed her eating habits permanently.
She says, “I think I lost 5 or 6kg, but you’re bound to anyway, because you’re on a restricted diet. I’ve since realised I can live and exist on smaller portions and that kind of continued really.
“People always say it’s more about food rather than exercise and finally the penny dropped when I was in Australia.”
Given her weight loss, Charlene must have dropped a dress size or two?
“No. The thing about women’s clothes is that they’re stretchy, so it doesn’t matter, and my weight fluctuates continuously,” she explains. “So it doesn’t matter what weight I am – my clothes will always fit!”
