While some might feel anxious at the thought of a big birthday, TV presenter Steph McGovern was keen to prove age is just a number at her 40th birthday party.
Gathering together her family, friends and showbiz pals, she danced the night away.
Speaking to us a couple of days after the celebrations, she admits that what started as a small and sedate affair quickly spiralled. “I thought I’d just have a little gathering at my house.
And then, because I hadn’t seen much of my friends and family during Covid and the lockdowns, I decided to throw a big party. Everyone had a good time. We were conga-ing at 1am – the hotel was kicking us out!”
Among the well-known TV names letting their hair down at the bash in Gateshead were Kerry Katona, John Whaite and Denise Van Outen, who recently split from her fiancé Eddie Boxshall but seemed in high spirits.
“She had a lot of fun – we all did. I think we were in need of a good party,” says Steph.
Asked whether she had any jitters ahead of the big 4-0, she says it didn’t bother her in the slightest.
The only thing that worries her about getting older is making sure she keeps herself fit and well so that she can be an active mum for her two-year-old daughter.
“I just want to be around for her for as long as possible,” she says.
“But ageing? I’m not really fussed about that. I think your life, your attitude to life and how you look after yourself is more important.”
She looked incredible at her party, showing off her recent weight loss in a blue minidress.
But shedding the pounds didn’t come through dieting and exercise – Steph reveals she dropped a dress size as a result of trying to cure her chronic irritable bowel syndrome.
“I’ve had IBS for as long as I can remember, but I just assumed it was one of those things you either have or you don’t have and there isn’t any cure.
"So for a long time, I just accepted it. I used to get awful cramps and run to the loo.
"Then I did a show for the BBC called Easy Ways To Live Well and I discovered my gut was in the worst third of the population.
“I started to adapt my diet but then I fell pregnant with my little girl and couldn’t do that. So now I’ve started to focus on my gut health again and it’s changed my life. I take a probiotic called Symprove, which helps massively, and I do intermittent fasting midweek – so I only eat between 11am and 7pm. I’ve also introduced more gut-friendly foods.
“Suddenly, I realised I’d lost my bloated belly, which was amazing. People would ask me all the time whether I was pregnant because I had this swollen stomach and now it’s gone.
"So I wasn’t trying to be super thin – I was pretty happy with how I looked – it was only by trying to help my IBS that I’ve lost weight.”
Steph has always exercised, but says she’s not obsessive about it.
“Sometimes I do a spin class – I like to be in a group, mainly because I like to chat in between! – and I do a lot of weight training. Working out also helps me mentally.”
Steph says she hasn’t suffered any big challenges with her mental health, but she says that since having her daughter, anxiety has plagued her much more.
Like all first-time parents, she’s found herself worrying about things she never had in the past and admits that her job as a news anchor on BBC Breakfast – a job she held for eight years before leaving in 2019 – contributed to those fears.
“When I had my little girl, I was like any parent with a newborn, constantly wondering if she was breathing and things like that. And because of my job on Breakfast, I ended up interviewing people who are at the extreme ends of situations – someone who has had some traumatic thing happen to their child or who had a debilitating illness,” says Steph, who was the business correspondent but regularly stood in for the main hosts.
“I found that if I read the briefs for those interviews just before going to sleep, it often led to terrible nightmares. So I don’t do that any more.”
Steph quit BBC Breakfast following her maternity leave because the antisocial and unpredictable hours were just too hard for her to maintain once she had a child. She says she doesn’t miss having to get up at 3.30am, but does miss her colleagues – many of whom attended her party.
A short while later, Steph was approached by Channel 4 about presenting her own show, Steph’s Packed Lunch.
The daytime series has been a hit and earlier this year was nominated for a TV Bafta, something she says was a dream come true.
“It was unreal. If someone told me when I was a teenager in Middlesbrough that one day I’d have my own show coming live from the north, which would be nominated for a Bafta, I wouldn’t have believed it. I must have cried for about a week.”
She now finds it much easier to juggle motherhood and her TV career.
“I absolutely loved working on BBC Breakfast, but I never knew where I was going to be day-to-day, whereas now I can often drop my little girl at nursery and pick her up on the way home from work.
“The hardest thing, I think, is the sleep element, because if you have a bad night with a toddler, you never know when you’re going to get that sleep back. The next night might not be any better! Sleep deprivation has been the hardest thing to deal with – and mum guilt. When I’m at work, I feel guilty, and when I’m at home I wonder whether I can still do my job. But my partner and I have an amazing relationship – we tag team all the time.”
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On the subject of whether she would like to have any more kids, Steph reveals that one is probably enough, adding, “I’ve just turned 40 so there’s also the biological clock to think about.”
Steph is private about her girlfriend and daughter and has never named them to protect their privacy. She doesn’t think it’s fair to put them out there to face the pressure of public life.
“My daughter has no choice and my partner’s not in the public eye, so I wouldn’t want to subject them to the opinions of others. I would just get too mad if I started reading negative things about them. I’d find that much harder than reading about myself.”
Steph has suffered from trolling online, but feels that it’s something that comes with being on television and she tries not to let it get to her.
“I don’t put out as much of my life on social media as some other people who might get trolled badly, but I do still get the usual stuff about what I look like and my weight. I think that’s inevitable and I don’t tend to read it.”
Professionally, Steph’s about to host a new Radio 4 series called The Ultimate Choice – a panel show, where comedians face light-hearted “what would you rather”-style questions.
But otherwise, she’s content to simply continue fronting her Packed Lunch show, which will be on air until at least the end of 2023.
“I love what I’m doing right now because the hours are perfect for my life and it’s my own show that I get my own say on every day.
"There isn’t another TV show that I’m dying to do. I’m at a really nice point in my career and I feel very lucky.”
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