Kirsty Gallacher, 49, opened up about finding love again and becoming a ‘stepmum’ after divorce and whether she plans to walk down the aisle again with her ‘perfect’ boyfriend
Telly star Kirsty Gallacher says she has finally found her ‘safe space’ in new boyfriend Darren Clayton and “would love to be engaged” to the ex-rugby ace. The ex-Sky Sports News host, 49, has been dating Darren, 39, since 2023.
And Kirsty — already mum to Oscar, 18, and Jude, 15, from her marriage to ex-husband Paul Sampson — said her blended family with dad-of-one Darren is “chaotic, but very, very happy”.
She told OK! Magazine: “I know it sounds cheesy, but he’s just my safe space. He helps me with everything, he’s my sounding board and he makes me laugh a lot. I’ve never been myself with anybody more than I am with him.
“I think we would love to be engaged, but married? It’s such a hard one, because we are so happy right now. Why would we change that? But do we both think it would be nice? Yes, of course – and we’re both on the same page with that.”
Gold Radio presenter Kirsty — who previously said she felt “horrendously lonely” after her split from ex-hubby Paul in 2015 — met Darren through mutual pals Gabby and Kenny Logan.
But as she approaches her milestone 50th birthday, she looks and feels better than ever and says she has “made her peace” with turning the big 5-0, adding: “By this point, I couldn’t give a monkey’s.
“My ducks are in a row, as much as they can be, I’ve got a wonderful partner and a wonderful family. I’m healthy. I feel better than ever.”
And of the age gap with Darren, she joked: “He’ll turn 40 in December, then a month later I’m turning 50, so we’ve laughed about having a 90th birthday party. No one would know we’re 10 years apart and it doesn’t bother either of us.”
Kirsty, who first found fame in the late 90s as a Sky Sports presenter, before going on to front TV series including Kirsty’s Home Videos, The Games and BBC reality show Only Fools On Horses, was co-hosting GB News’ breakfast show she suffered a health scare in 2021.
She was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a benign tumour in her inner ear which caused “severe tinnitus” and meant she couldn’t hear properly.
She plans to have radiotherapy treatment to manage the tumour later this year and added: “It makes me emotional talking about it actually. I went pretty much deaf, went to my GP and asked if it could be a brain tumour.
“It was a horrible, horrible moment, but I want to talk about it so we all feel less alone. I feel for anyone else going through that. It’s so worrying and it’s not easy navigating it day-to-day.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
