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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Entertainment
Tina Campbell

The Chase's Anne Hegerty opens up on love life: 'I'm happily single and don’t even want a pet'

Anne Hegerty - (PA)

The Chase star Anne Hegerty has opened up about her love life, revealing she’s perfectly content without a partner or even a pet.

Known to millions as "The Governess" on the hit ITV quiz show which she has been a part of since 2010, the 67-year-old admitted she once wished for romance, but those days are firmly behind her.

Speaking in a candid new interview with New magazine, Hegerty said: “No, I really don’t [want a relationship]. I used to, but I realised I was wanting to want it, rather than genuinely wanting a romantic relationship.”

She added: “I don’t even want pets. I’ve got pot plants and I mind when they die, but no – I’m very happy in my own company. I’m just fine.”

Despite assumptions that a life in the spotlight might come with social demands, Hegerty shared that she often prefers solitude, even at high-profile events.

“Even at showbiz events, I need to take time out if it’s very noisy. I need to chill for a bit, alone,” she explained.

“People keep inviting me to things and I think, ‘Are you lonely?’ So many people have tons of friends and have to have them around all the time.”

This isn’t the first time Hegerty has addressed her personal life.

Back in 2018, during her appearance on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!, she set the record straight about a long-standing myth on her Wikipedia page, which incorrectly claimed she was married to a man named Jake Hester.

Anne Hegerty previously addressed a long-standing myth on Wikipedia page while appearing on I’m A Celebrity in 2018 (ITV)

“It still claims I’m married to someone called Jake Hester! I seriously don’t know who he is,” she told her campmates including Fleur East, Emily Atack and Harry Redknapp.

Elaborating further on the matter to Express.co.uk, she said: "My brother didn’t help because he said to me, ‘I want to meet this guy’,” she quipped. “I’m like ‘No. This is not somebody I know’.”

“I imagine he exists,” she added. “It’s too odd a name to make up. I imagine he exists and he’s out there somewhere. Either he vandalised the page or somebody he knows did.”

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