Anna Richardson is going through a “hellish” menopause - but says she still dreams of starting a family.
The 52-year-old Naked Attraction host knows she won’t able to conceive naturally, so revealed she has now started looking into other options.
One route is adoption, while the other is surrogacy. However, she is still weighing up the best way to do it.
“I wake up every morning and think time is running out. I’m very clear that I want to be in a stable relationship, get married and start a family eventually” she told Closer magazine.
She continued: “I’ve started those baby steps by looking at adoption. I’ve also thought about whether I would want to go down the surrogacy route or if I would want an egg donor and sperm donor.”
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Anna added: “At 52 I know I’m over the hill for it, but there are so many options... it’s the one thing I haven’t done yet, but I’m hopeful it will happen.”
Until last year Anna was in a relationship with comedian and former Great British Bake Off host Sue Perkins, who is 53.
Both TV stars, whose relationship had lasted about seven years, were said to be “devastated” after going their separate ways.
But they made the tough decision to break up following disagreements about having children together.
Prior to that Anna was in a relationship with TV producer Charles Martin for 18 years but they split because he was “away all the time”.
She has also suffered miscarriages and an ectopic pregnancy during her lifetime.
As she enters her fifties, Anna is coping with menopause, which she says started when she was 46.
She revealed the first signs for her were deep anxiety and depression, which she treated with therapy and medication.
Then came the brain fog that included forgetting the end of her sentences when she was speaking to someone.
Before knowing it was menopause, she was terrified she had early dementia or a brain tumour.
After admitting trying “every menopause treatment going”, it is still not over for Anna, but she is through the worst of it now.
And she definitely hasn’t given up on finding love – exclusively revealing to The Mirror she is dating again.
While she has remained tight-lipped about her new beau so far, she shared it is a man who she was introduced through by mutual friends.
Talking about how we all have different love languages that determine the kind of relationship we want, dating expert Anna said: “It's all about communication and rapport, and understanding the other person enough that [you know what] it is that they need for you.
"For example, this morning - I'm dating, I've got a boyfriend - and already my boyfriend has said to me 'I haven't spent enough time with you', so his love language is time - he needs my time to feel loved.
"Whereas actually, I quite like to receive texts saying [something like] 'I'm thinking about you and I love you'. So people need to be aware of how their partner does their love language."
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