Carol Vorderman has shared a touching tribute to her late mum for Mother's Day. After a week of fun at Cheltenham Festival, Carol posted some sentimental photographs of her and her mum Jean, who died of terminal cancer in 2017, on Instagram, saying that she, her children and her mum "existed as one".
Maths whizz Carol is very proud of her achievements given her upbringing, which was led by single mum Jean after her dad, Tony, walked out a few weeks after Carol was born. Carol recently told Michelle Visage on the latter's podcast that her dad had an affair when her mum was pregnant with her, but he didn't tell Jean until after Carol had been born.
Now 62-year-old Carol and her older siblings grew up in poverty, receiving free school meals and sharing a room until she was eight. Many years later, in the early 1980s, it was Jean that noticed an advert for "a woman with good mathematical skills" to appear on Countdown, and forged her daughter's signature in application to get her on the show.
