Susanna Reid has defended her reason for not being married and directly addressed her sons following a debate on Good Morning Britain.
The ITV presenter and her co-host Adil Ray were joined on Thursday's show by actress Jeni Barnett and Debbie McGee to discuss whether marriage is sexist.
While Jeni argued that marriage is a patriarchal tradition, Debbie said that marriage is not sexist and isn't about outdated traditions, but about a couple's love for each other.
But during the debate, Jeni admitted to being married herself.
She said: "‘I think tradition is being turned on its head. What all us old feminists are saying is, it's OK to be married, it's OK to have a wonderful romantic gesture but you have to be who you are!
"And you have to remain who you are. You're not a chattel! And when I got married, I asked the old man..."
Susanna then chimed in: "Hang on. You are married? So it's a 100% sexist institution but you've happily got involved?"
"Well, only after 11 years," Jeni responded. "I did it because we had a kid and I was worried because he's an actor and a musician [that] if he died I would have to do paperwork and he wouldn't have done it. So we got married so that the child became legitimate and that's why we did it.
"He left the marriage lunch and went swimming with the best man!"
Susanna appeared surprised by Jeni's comment and responded: "It's a bit of an old fashioned idea that children are 'illegitimate' if you're not married?
"Children are legitimate, whether you're married or not!"
At the end of the debate, as Adil began to speak to her, Susanna declared: "Never been married."
Her co host replied: "Never been married?" to which Susanna firmly responded: "No," before adding: "And I'd just like to say to the children, you are not illegitimate - whatever the convention says."
Adil continued to probe by asking: "But your reason for not getting married, it was similar to what Jeni was - you just weren't really against the idea of marriage, or...?"
"Just a personal choice," Susanna replied.
"I think that's all we're going to get out of her," Adil said as he winked prompting Susanna to laugh.
Susanna, 50, is has three sons Sam, 19, Finn, 17, and 16-year-old Jack with her ex-partner Dominic Cotton whom she was in a relationship with for 16 years before they split in 2014.
She went on to date Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish, 56, before splitting in 2019.
