BBC Breakfast’s Carol Kirkwood has shocked her ex-husband with a rare comment about their previous relationship.
The 62-year-old weather presenter married her second husband, police officer Steve Randall (49), who is 13 years her junior, at Cliveden House last December.
She was previously married to Northern Irish cricketer and hockey player Jimmy Kirkwood from 1990 until 2008, when they separated.
But now she has said in an unlikely comment The Times: ‘Love is better the second time around. No disrespect to my first husband, but this is better.’
The brazen comment came as a rare remark about her past love life, as Carol had never previously spoken about her divorce or the reasons behind her choice.
BBC Breakfast’s Carol Kirkwood has delivered a shocking dig at her ex-husband Jimmy (seen together) in a rare comment about their former relationship
The 62-year-old weather presenter married her second husband Steve Randall, 49, who is 13 years her junior, at Cliveden House last December.
In December 2023, she shared a glimpse of their wedding day on social media, much to the delight of her fans.
She said: ‘It was the most perfect, romantic and intimate wedding. We are both so incredibly happy.’
In photos from their big day, Carol looked stunning in an off-the-shoulder dress with a dramatic skirt as she posed for photos with her husband Steve.
She wrote on social media: ‘Thank you so much for all your lovely messages. We had the most perfect day.
“It was a small wedding, but so romantic and intimate. A day we will never forget. We are bursting with happiness. It was not a ‘secret’ wedding, just a private wedding.”
Carol had previously revealed that she and Steve were hoping for an ‘intimate’ wedding, telling The Mirror: ‘We are very happy and in love and we are absolutely thrilled to be together, but we don’t have a wedding date yet.
“I think we’re going to have an intimate wedding. We don’t want to just do it, we want it to be a big party.”
The presenter began her career as a reserve secretary at the BBC in London. After a number of internal moves, she took on presenting slots at BBC Radio Scotland, and then BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4.
But now, in an unlikely comment, she has told The Times: ‘Love is better the second time around. No disrespect to my first husband, but this is better.’
She and Steve first announced their engagement in May 2022, with Carol proudly showing off her diamond ring at the Chelsea Flower Show
After marrying Jimmy, Carol left the BBC to work in recruitment. However, in 1993 she returned to the BBC as a freelance presenter. During this time she also presented the bi-monthly Talking Issues programme for HTV West.
Three years later, the BBC Breakfast star joined The Weather Channel, but after the channel closed she trained under the BBC at the Met Office before joining BBC News as a weather presenter in April 1998.
Since then she has appeared regularly on all BBC Weather programmes, both radio and television, and is the main weather presenter on BBC Breakfast.
Earlier this week, she said on Thursday that she was “really disappointed” by the ongoing scandal surrounding Strictly Come Dancing and admitted that she no longer watches the show.
In recent weeks, Strictly has been embroiled in allegations that its professional dancers bully and abuse their celebrity partners.
The scandal broke in January when actress Amanda Abbington accused her Strictly partner Giovanni Pernice of assault after she unexpectedly quit the programme after just five weeks.
In July it was revealed that Graziano Di Prima had been sacked from Strictly for ‘kicking’ his partner, Love Island star Zara McDermott.
Scottish meteorologist Carol appeared on the BBC reality show Strictly Come Dancing in 2015, partnering Pasha Kovalev.
She told the Daily Express on thursday: ‘Yes [I’m surprised]I am also very disappointed. They are doing the right thing by investigating all of these claims.’
Carol said she ‘loved’ her time on the show with her ‘fun’ dance partner Pasha, 38, who now stars on Dancing With The Stars.
The presenter also said that she had not experienced or heard of any problems from her fellow contestants at the time.
But she felt for them: ‘I know too much and I know what they are going through with their nerves… YYou look for the nearest fire escape to get out of there because you’re so nervous I haven’t looked at it in a while.’
Earlier this week, she said on Thursday that she was “really disappointed” by the ongoing scandal surrounding Strictly Come Dancing and admitted she no longer watches the show.
In an episode of the Out of the air… With Jane and Fi podcast, which aired in July, Carol spoke about her experience on Strictly: ‘I loved it. I found Saturday evening incredibly exciting, but the experience, and especially the training with Pasha, was the most fun for me.
“He was so patient and kind. I would say, ‘I can’t do this,’ and he would say, ‘You can do it tomorrow.’”
“He was kind to me, so I have absolutely no complaints. I’ll never forget it and I don’t regret doing it.”
