Carol Vorderman made her name on the TV game show Countdown, which she co-hosted for 26 years from 1982 to 2008. Since then she's appeared on This Morning, presented the annual Pride of Britain Awards and written numerous educational and diet books.
Her latest venture, however, is one that we are so excited about. The TV star is one of the famous faces taking part in the I'm a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! spin-off series taking place in South Africa. Carol, who first appeared on the reality show in 2016, will join fellow I'm a Celebrity alumnus including Fatima Whitbread, Paul Burrell, Amir Khan and more to compete in a series of challenges in the hopes of becoming an I'm a Celebrity Legend.
While Carol has a very public professional persona thanks to her television career, the star generally keeps her personal life private. Here's everything we know about her family and love life.
Is Carol Vorderman married?
Carol has been married twice before. Her first wedding was in 1985 when she was just 24, to Royal Navy officer Christopher Mather. The marriage lasted just 12 months. Carol also previously shared a story about her wedding to her first husband Christopher Mather on her BBC Radio Wales show, revealing she got changed for the reception.
She explained: "I went into the 321 costume department – remember 321 with Ted… You know 321 Dusty Bin?," she told host Owain Wyn Evans with reference to late comedian Ted Rogers' former gameshow. And I found a frock to wear at night time – it was like something they now wear in Strictly Come Dancing. It was entirely meshed with sequins in the right places." She added: "So I had this thing that was probably not appropriate for a bride and I got on the stage and sang It's Raining Men."
Carol's second marriage was to management consultant Patrick King in 1990 when she was 29. The couple had two children together before separating in 2000. Carol was then in a relationship with Sports Broadcaster Des Kelly from 2001 to 2006. When asked recently asked about the possibility of a third marriage during an appearance on BBC Radio Wales, Carol said: "Obviously I'm not doing it again!"
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© GETTYMore recently, Carol has opened up candidly about her personal life and revealed she has five "special friends". When asked recently if she was in a relationship during an appearance on the Rule Breakers podcast, she said: "I have a system which I've had for ten years.
"They're called 'special friends'. I spoke a couple of months ago about having 'special friends' and it was like, again, the world had fallen in for some people but actually what I found was there was an awful lot of women who said 'I'd never thought about it like this'."
© Neil Munns - PA ImagesSpeaking about the duration of her bond with each of her "special friends", she said: "[I've been with one] 11 years, one seven years. You know everyone is single. It's a happy place. I hasten to add I'm not into one-night stands. The language around a woman of my generation is that if you had more than one partner when you got married you were this you were that.
"Everything was derogatory about a woman, that was the environment I was growing up in. It was like 'she's desperate', everything was judgmental."
Who are Carol Vorderman's children?
Carol is mum to two children, Katie, 32, and Cameron, 26, who she shares with her former husband Patrick King. She is hugely proud of her children's academic achievements and often pays tribute to the pair on her Instagram page. Cameron, who suffers from severe learning disabilities, gained his master's degree from Dundee University. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Carol detailed the struggles he faced growing up.
"By six, this child I loved so much, that I would have done anything for, was being rejected - by the school, by the teachers, by the other pupils," she shared. "It was heartbreaking, utterly heartbreaking. And I was lost. Was I going to have to teach him at home, myself? How? I just wasn't equipped. I didn't know how to teach a child with this level of special needs."
Carol pictured with her two children and her late mother, Edwina
Of her son's special needs, Carol explained: "There are overlapping circles, with severe dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, ADD and autism." She added: "Cam has severe dyslexia, ADD and ADHD." Despite these hurdles, Cameron has achieved academically, making Carol a proud parent.
Carol's daughter Katie takes after her clever mum too. Honouring her daughter on a previous birthday, Carol told her Instagram fans: "A big day in this family. My daughter Katie @katie.science (research scientist) handed in her thesis for her PhD at Cambridge University. Proud mum moment. She has a real work ethic, got her honours degree and her master's degree at Cambridge and now, fingers crossed, her PhD. Her subject was NANOTECHNOLOGY and the delivery of a new cancer drug specifically to only the tumour...she has helped to invent the system of delivery which will change so many treatments of tumours in the future."
Who were Carol Vorderman's late parents?
Carol is the youngest of three children born to her Dutch father Anton – known as 'Tony' – and Welsh mother Edwina. Her parents separated three weeks after the star's birth and Carol didn't see her father again until she was 42. Her father died in 2007 and her mother in 2017.
Carol previously told the Guardian: "My father was having an affair with a 16-year-old when Mum was pregnant with me. She found out when I was three weeks old and left, not surprisingly. She had three children; my sister, who is 10 years older than me, and my brother, who is eight years older. We went to live in North Wales, which is where Mum grew up. Her uncle allowed us to rent a house and we lived in the ground floor, two-bedroom flat and rented out the top-floor flat."
Speaking about the lack of contact with her father, she added: "That rejection was terribly hurtful and it went on for years. After his wife died he tried to make contact with me when I was in my 30s, but it wasn't until I had two children that I thought, I'm denying them a grandfather, get your act together. I met him then."
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