A new relationship might seem daunting for some older people, but Prue Leith insists it’s easier in her 70s than it was before.
The Bake Off judge’s own recipe for success with husband John Playfair is separate houses.
(He disagrees and claims it’s “fishnet tights”, she laughs.)
Prue, 79, found it “incredibly tough” when her first husband, Rayne, died in 2002. But when John, 73, came along in 2012 – and wooed her with haggis – she says he “changed everything”.
The couple wed in 2016 but do not live together.
“I’m not saying we’ll live apart for ever, but we’ve fallen into a routine that works well,” says Prue.
“We sleep at my house, then he goes off to his in the morning to do some gardening or whatever he fancies.
“We reconvene for lunch at mine, then do our own thing until about 7pm when we have supper together.
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“It’s great because he’s not underfoot – and best of all, his clobber is at his house!”
The chef, who plans to celebrate turning 80 next year with a fly-fishing jaunt in Scotland, tells Prima magazine: “I think relationships get easier the older you get.
“At least they have in my experience. You get to a certain age and you’re no longer trying to change people.
“John is amazingly untidy. I don’t try to change anything about him. I just think, ‘He’s untidy and I have to pick things up after him, but it’s worth it.’
“When you’re young, you’re trying to mould somebody into what you want and it’s crazy.
“As for John, he says I’m so anally tidy that one day he’ll find himself in the dustbin.”
