Carol Vorderman is one of the UK's best-loved presenters, known for her sharp mind, wit and warmth.
Through the ups and downs of the industry – including being trolled for her looks, age and fashion choices – Carol has remained a bright star on our screens. All this is why I wanted to talk to her on HELLO!'s wellbeing podcast In a Good Place.
After a difficult childhood in Wales in the wake of her parents' separation, Carol went on to read engineering at the University of Cambridge before embarking on the career that would define her.
Her mum arranged an audition for the then 21-year-old after seeing a newspaper ad looking for women who were good with numbers for the first show on fledgling Channel 4.
Her lightning maths skills led her to co-host Countdown for 26 years and she recently celebrated 40 years in television, having notched up a staggering 10,000 appearances, including as a star of Loose Women and as the presenter of the annual Pride of Britain Awards since its 1999 launch.
WOW: Carol Vorderman stuns in SIX bikini looks that she will don for 'shower' scenes on I'm a Celeb
But the 62-year-old hasn’t stopped there. In 2014 she got her pilot's licence and the next year saw her aiming for the stars on the board of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in the US, teaming up with Nasa.
In this excerpt from HELLO!'s In A Good Place podcast, the twice-divorced mother of two shares how she has remained in a good place despite life's challenges and reveals her secret to happiness.
Carol, are you in a good place?
"I am in such a good place. I am happy. I am free. I am in a very good place. There have been times when I haven't been, but I try to forget about those as quickly as possible.
"I'm 62 now, and life was very difficult when I was young. My mum had to bring up three kids by herself without any support from my father. Times were hard. We were very poor, but as a child, it was harder for my mum than for me because I didn't know what poor and not poor was. I had to learn at a young age to leave bad bits behind and move on. Moving forward, that’s what it was all about."
LOOK: Carol Vorderman turns heads in must-see sequin bikini
As a girl growing up, were you aware that your life could go in either direction?
"Not at all. I grew up when you had to watch the telly live, there were only three channels. And there weren't any women on TV unless they were a hostess, a dolly bird or actresses, and that was it. It wasn't until I was well into my teens that we had the first female newsreaders, Anna Ford and Angela Rippon. So that was never really an option.
"People say [I'm a rebel] because I went to Cambridge when I was only 17. I don't think any other child from a state school in North Wales had been to Cambridge before, certainly not a girl. So, this was all a first [but] one of the keys to happiness was that just because other people say you can't, that’s their problem. It's not my problem.”
Are you ever in a bad place? If so, what are your warning signs and what do you do?
"A warning sign would be when I'm in the company of somebody who is not pleasant. I get myself out of there, because we've all had the fun-hoovers in our lives, whether they're friends or family members. The best thing I've ever done is drop them. Drop them and don’t waste time on them anymore."
What chapter of your life are you in now? Was there a turning point for you?
"In my 30s I was very happily married, then suddenly I wasn't. It was from [the age of] 50 that I lost this whole [idea of]: 'You’ve got to be with one person. You're only valid if you've got a husband' that sort of nonsense. That was an absolute freedom.
"Then I learnt to fly and got really good, I was flying around America in my little plane, and got a whole new gang of people at Nasa. It was opening my life up to lots of opportunities and that brings in people who are like you."
I love how body confident you are, how do you keep in such great shape?
"Women who are in their 60s, we weren't brought up to exercise. You had PE at school and there were certainly no gyms. I came to exercise late in my life; now I love walking and I love my gym. I've started stretching a lot, too. I think as you get older, you need to do weight-bearing stuff and you need to stretch and squat. If you don't, even for a couple of weeks, you start creaking."
How important is it to look good?
"Because I work in a visual world you have to pay more attention, as do other women in my position, to how you look – more than you'd really like to.
"It's about these daft so-called rules of society. It was in 2000, when I went to the Baftas in a short blue dress, and it was like I'd murdered my grandmother. They made a whole show about it [an episode of BBC chat show Kilroy], where they flew the dress in from Paris and half of the studio audience were vile, and the other half were supportive. It was in the national newspapers, printed along with the comments, every day for about 18 months.
"The crime was not about the dress, the crime was about if a woman aged 39 should be wearing a dress above the knee. The vitriol was off the scale. When you've lived all that, it's easy to be your authentic self, because what else can you throw at me? I've survived that. Bring it on, baby, I'll wear what I want to wear."
You have this inner confidence and this ambition; where do you think that came from?
"I think a little bit of it comes from having to survive. I was born with a happy soul. I love it when people come up to me in the street. I am so lucky, not only for the life that I've had, but I've earnt [a lot] of money being on the telly. That was no great hardship, let's be honest. What a great life it is. I can never complain about that, and I never do."
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