Changing Rooms' Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen's life – family tragedy to childhood sweethearts

Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen is known for his incredible interior design on the hit 1990s TV show The Changing Rooms.

And when the 56-year-old was forced back to the UK during the global pandemic, he decided it was time to take the UK by storm as he pushed the idea of rebooting his iconic 90s interior design show.

Now nearly 18 months on, Channel 4 is set to launch the highly-anticipated reboot on Wednesday night and fans can’t wait to see what the artistic character has in store for his line-up of dreary homes.

But what was TV’s favourite flamboyant and brutally honest designer life like as a child?

Daily Star has taken a deep dive through the archives to learn a little more about the man himself.

Childhood

Laurence has lived quite an exciting life on-screen, and viewers won’t be surprised to hear that the colourful character is exactly the same on camera as he is behind the scenes.

Even as a child, Laurence has always had a keen eye for style as he grew up in the heart of Kensington and quickly took an interest in fashion and design.

According to the designer himself, he could often “specialise in creating some really outlandish outfits” as a toddler ranging from military costumes and palace guard ensembles.

As he got older, the TV star found a huge passion in creative outlets, with his favourite subject at school being art and needlework.

But his life was turned upside down when his mother developed Multiple Sclerosis when he was nine which left her blind and unable to walk.

Just months later his doting father, who worked as an orthopaedic surgeon, was diagnosed with leukaemia which he passed away from six months later at the age of 42.

He recalled the difficult period in an interview with The Guardian as he remembered what his life was like when he lost his dad.

He told the publication: “Yes, it was all terribly sad; and yes, I remember it being quite dark and I remember things not being happy. But you know it actually got on with itself, and we all carried on.”

Despite his difficult childhood, Laurence did incredibly well at school but shocked his family when he announced he was abandoning his A-levels to go to an art school in London.

As supportive as his mother was, he reflected on her hopes of his sudden change of mind to one day pursue a career in law instead.

He admitted: “I think there was this general conception that, based on my tragic childhood, I was having some kind of terrible breakdown, but that wasn’t it at all.

“I’d just got bitten by the Aubery Beardsley bug and had decided that really what I wanted to do more than anything was to spend the rest of my life drawing erotica.

Love life

After art school he went on to launch his own design consultancy and credits his wife Jackie to this day for putting Changing Rooms on his radar.

The pair met when Laurence was 19-years-old and have been head over heels for each other ever since.

The childhood sweethearts finally tied the knot in 1989 and went on to welcome two beautiful children together, daughters Cecile, 26, and Hermione, 23.

The pair share a stunning family home in a 17th century manor house in the heart of the Cotswolds which they bought in 2007.

TV Career

As his TV show took off in 1996, the Channel 4 makeover show raked in more than 12 million viewers as he transformed the drab and dreary homes into exciting and vibrant works of art.

Speaking at the time, Laurence said: “I cannot believe how many of those rooms I got away with,” as he became a household name overnight.

The show aired for eight years alongside co-host Carol Smillie, who he admitted rubbed him up the wrong way.

But despite his love of the show, the star admitted that he doesn’t want to be on TV forever, and revealed that he has been trying to leave the showbiz life behind him for years.

He explained: “I’ve been trying to get sacked from television for years. Each makeover has become more and more outlandish in the bitter, bitter hope that someone will go: ‘No more!’”

As the new series takes place, viewers can’t wait to see what crazy and outlandish plans he has in store for them now.

Revival

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Speaking of the reboot, he admitted that he is glad his co-star Carol Smillie will not return and admitted that it would have been “Jurassic Park” otherwise.

He told The Sun: “What the producers and what Channel 4 have done is actually very clever.

“They have moved on and it wouldn’t have worked if it had been Jurassic Park — it had to be a reinvention.

“And to be fair, I resisted it for a long time. I was very keen that they really should look at finding possibilities with other people.

“Otherwise, it would just be a revival. Actually, it always needed to be a reboot.”

Changing Rooms returns to Channel 4 at 8pm

Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk