Carol Vorderman has detailed the strict rules in her 'special friends' arrangement - and says her kids approve.
The TV presenter sparked a huge conversation when she appeared on This Morning late last year and discussed her approach to romance and dating now she's in later life. She said she had a string of special friends for a number of years, some which she'd known as a long time and wasn't looking to settle down and get married again.
Carol returned to the ITV1 show today to chat to hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield about her 'special friends' and detailed some strict rules she has in place - and deal breakers - to ensure everyone is happy.
Speaking on the mid-morning show today, Carol said the arrangement came around naturally and said her life was very full, but the "male and female relationships form the icing on the cake" rather than part of the actual cake.
However, in order for it to work, everyone has to be single, something which she describes as a "critical part of it". For her, she knows everyone well and isn't someone who wants to do a one night stands, insisting this all started with friendship.
As a rule, she doesn't ask them about their other 'special' relationships with other people, but she assumes they have others too.
And asked by Phil and Holly what her grown up children think about the whole arrangement, she said they don't mind and are perfectly fine with it and that they know them too and are friendly with them themselves.
Carol previously discussed how the arrangement works - and is having the "best time" as a result.
"No!" she said when asked if she's in a relationship. "I'm having the best time. I've spoken about this once. I have a system which I've had for 10 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.'"
She revealed she has been friends with some of them for years.
"One's 11 years, one's seven years, you know everyone is single. It's a happy place. I hasten to add I'm not into one night stands," Carol added, "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."
