Lorraine Kelly has shared that she’s not even considering retirement, despite celebrating an impressive 40 years in the broadcasting world.
Describing her year as “an amazing” one, Lorraine has been busy with the release of a new book, embracing the joys of becoming a grandmother to daughter Rosie’s baby Billie, and being honoured with BAFTA’s highest accolade for her exceptional contribution to television.
With her 65th birthday on the horizon, some might think it’s time for Lorraine to take a step back from her hectic life, but she’s expressed no such intention.
She divulged to Hello! Magazine: “I’ve always said if the day comes when I think I don’t really want to go to work, I will stop.”, reports the Daily Record.
“I’ve never felt that and I don’t think I ever will, because every day is different.”
“This year has been amazing, but obviously the most wonderful uplifting thing was the birth of Billie, ” she continued.
Since 2010, Lorraine has been at the helm of her eponymous ITV show, following her longstanding tenure on GMTV.
(Image: ITV)
A recent documentary, ‘Lorraine Kelly: 40 Unforgettable Years’, offered fans a glimpse into her illustrious career and personal life away from the cameras.
In the documentary, Lorraine received high praise from fellow ITV colleagues, including Good Morning Britain’s Susanna Reid and former co-host Piers Morgan.
Piers commented on Lorraine’s persona: “Lorraine is an iron first in a velvet glove. She creates a persona that people think is very benign, very nice, very smiley but underneath it is a proper journalist.”
Susanna praised Lorraine as “a trailblazer for women” during the hour-long programme, while This Morning’s Alison Hammond expressed: “She definitely has paved the way for other presenters and the likes of me who have different accents.”
Discussing the challenges she encountered along her journey, Lorraine revealed that she was told she would “never make it” in television due to her working-class Glasgow accent.
(Image: GETTY)
Reflecting on this remark, she disclosed: “It was actually the best thing that could have happened: that comment spurred me to phone the boss of the relatively new breakfast TV station TV- am, who asked me to come down for an interview and then hired me as Scottish correspondent (Bruce Gyngell was Australian so didn’t have the same class prejudices reporter!)
She further commented: “The high cost of living and working now makes it almost impossible for working class kids from the rest of the country to accept a job in London. That has to change.
“There also needs to be more opportunities outside of London. We quite rightly have stressed the importance of diversity in recent years, but that also has to include young working-class people who understand and can relate to the vast majority of our viewers.
“It is in all of our interests to make sure they have the opportunity to have their voices heard. “.