Inside Carol Vorderman’s unique love life after revealing her ‘special friends’

Carol Vorderman is a TV icon and will be back on the box for tonight’s Cooking with the Stars, but if anything she’s even more of a legend off camera.

Carol has been playing to the beat of her own drum taking on multiple lovers- or ‘special friends’ – adopting this way of life years after her marriage to the father of her children, Patrick King, ended.

Her latest project is taking the taboo out of people’s dating choices (basically the UK’s answer to Samantha Jones – thank you Carol), but she originally became a household name as the mathematical expert and co-host on Countdown – the role she took on after her mum answered a newspaper job advert on Carol’s behalf.

Now, she’s got plenty of regular gigs – Carol is a This Morning contributor, Have I Got News for You panellist, Pride of Britain host, and a vital part of the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! alumni.

As the 63-year-old’s next TV show begins to air, let’s take a look at what she’s said about her unique romantic life.

Is Carol Vorderman in a relationship?

Carol is very happily single and enjoys the freedom of not having a ring on her left hand. For over a decade, she has perfected a system of dating multiple men.

1+1=2 is not Carol’s favourite sum, as she’s admitted the dating method has left her feeling ‘freer’ and ‘happier’.

After first discussing the setup on This Morning in 2022, she took to Instagram to explain she wants to remove the taboo around making these dating choices.

‘There are different kinds of relationships and a less pressurised one is one which suits many of us. It’s just that society has said we can’t talk about it. Well stuff that,’ she defiantly wrote.

Carol expanded on the subject while talking to Michelle Visage on the Rule Breakers podcast.

‘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,’ she said.

‘Everything was derogatory about a woman, that was the environment I was growing up in. It was like “she’s desperate”, everything was judgmental.’

Ignoring the outside noise, Carol has been dating multiple people (deciding not to confirm the number, but five special friends has previously been reported). However, she did reveal that one person has been in her life for 11 years, and another for seven, and stated all of her special friends are single.

‘It’s a happy place. I hasten to add I’m not into one-night stands,’ she explained.

Carol added to You magazine: ‘The goal of my life is to be happy, not to be in love. I just find people interesting and life interesting.’

The identity of any of the men has never been revealed, with Carol being smart about where she meets up with them. You won’t catch her inviting them over to her home, as she doesn’t want them to be photographed. ‘I’m not dumb,’ she remarked.

Who was Carol Vorderman married to?

Although Carol has now found a way of enjoying romantic company that works for her, she previously tried more traditional paths.

In 1985, when she was 24, Carol tied the knot with Royal Navy officer Christopher Mather, but the union only lasted a year.

The TV star has now said that their wedding may have given an indication it wasn’t going to last.

For the special day, she made the fun choice to perform It’s Raining Men for the wedding party in a Strictly Come Dancing-esque outfit (we hope somebody has this on film, and Carol shares it one day).

‘I got on the stage and I sang this [song] at my wedding and I was then dragged off by my husband and the marriage didn’t last long, so here we go. It’s raining men… and you can understand his reasons,’ she recalled on her BBC Radio Wales show.

Not put off, Carol gave marriage another go with management consultant Patrick King, and they welcomed children Katie and Cameron.

However, after 10 years they divorced in 2000, and she told Woman’s magazine: ‘I never said why my marriage broke down and we’d agreed never to talk about it publicly. The divorce is a regret of mine and my mum thinks that we should have stayed together.

‘He’s now remarried so there’s no chance of us getting back together. Had my career not taken off like it did, Paddy and I probably wouldn’t have split up.’

After her experience, she added: ‘I never want to get married again.’

She stuck to her word of not walking back up the aisle, but has since entered into two long-term relationships – with former Daily Mirror deputy editor Des Kelly from 2000-2006 and then Red Arrows ace Graham ‘Duffy’ Duff from 2011 to 2015 – before moving on to her special friend formula.

When is Carol Vorderman’s next TV show?

Carol is part of the lineup for Cooking with the Stars, hosted by Emma Willis and Tom Allen.

Alongside comedian Katherine Ryan, Paralympian Ellie Simmonds, Olympic sprinter Linford Christie, Strictly Come Dancing star Pasha Kovalev, model Abbey Clancy, TV personality Christopher Biggins and YouTuber Harry Pinero, she will be trying to master kitchen skills.

‘I cannot believe how lucky I am to watch another batch of celebrities – all pretty much clueless in the kitchen — turning out the most amazing dishes. All in a bid to get their hands on my golden frying pan,’ Tom said ahead of the fourth season.

Speaking about her reasons for signing up, Carol said: ‘I used to cook all the time and then about ten years ago, I just stopped literally. I think after cooking for the kids and my mum and the family, as I started cooking for the family when I was ten, I think I just had enough.

‘The knowledge is there but I just fell out of love with it, so my motivation was to get cooking again.’

Cooking with the Stars starts tonight on ITV1 at 8pm.

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