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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Katherine Heslop

BBC Breakfast's Victoria Fritz on why she's ditched surname for mum's 'epic' maiden name

BBC Breakfast's Victoria Fritz has written a lengthy post on why she now goes by her mother's maiden name after the breakdown of her marriage.

Yesterday the presenter, 38, who had replaced Sally Nugent for the third day running introduced herself using her new surname- Valentine.

The name change prompted a flurry of remarks on Twitter, with many questioning it.

On Twitter, Victoria, a mum of two, shared a link to a blog post and wrote alongside it: "Hello. You may notice a little change today. If you are wondering why, here are a few words."

In the post, Victoria explained that is using her mother's maiden name after her split from Dan Fritz, and as a tribute to her mum's side of the family.

Viewers were left baffled when she announced her name change on BBC Breakfast (BBC)

Dan and Victoria tied the knot back in 2011.

Victoria went on: "The reasons for the breakdown of my marriage are private. And, as I’ve discovered, via the inordinate number of conversations, apps, books, social media feeds, podcasts, seminars, webinars and every other resource I’ve exhausted in an entirely clichéd Millennial bid to grapple with my world dissolving, those reasons no longer define me.

Victoria and her husband Dan, with whom she shares two children, have split up (@vfritznews/Instagram)

"Call me old fashioned, but airing dirty laundry is undignified at the best of times. Plus, I have two wonderful young children to consider. Protecting their wellbeing and right to a private life will always be my priorities.

"Yet, however private I wish to keep my private life, there is an aspect of it that will always remain as much in public hands as it is in my own. And that is my name.

Victoria explained that her name "no longer fits" , adding: "It doesn’t fit the person that has emerged nor does it truthfully describe the future ahead of me."

However, she couldn't go back to her maiden name, telling readers: "It would be like going back to live in your childhood bedroom, which, in my case, would be to a biro doodled, pine single bed, a purple lava lamp and walls covered in pictures of horses decoupaged around a giant poster of Keanu Reeves in Speed 2.

"No. Going back felt emotionally regressive, stunting, depressing and quite frankly, anti-feminist."

The broadcaster explained that she's taking her "Dubliner mother's name", in a tribute to "Irish strength and solidarity that has scaffolded me as I quietly rebuilt."

Victoria explained she was embracing her mother's maiden name to celebrate her Irish roots (BBC)

"I’m taking it because of the innate kinship I feel with my Irish family; the craic, the musicality, the story-telling, the quick wit, the laughter, the hardship, the struggle, the strength, the bonds that only those who’ve known what it is to be on the outside can feel," she wrote.

Victoria concluded: "I’m also taking it because it sounds epic. And “epic" sounds pretty damn good as loose plans for the future go."

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