Carol Kirkwood, who stepped down as a weather presenter on BBC Breakfast in April after 16 years, has now shared the real reason for her retirement: her husband.
Retirement to Prioritise Marriage
Kirkwood, 62, married police officer Steve Randall in 2023. In January, she announced her departure from BBC Breakfast, citing a desire to spend more time with him. Now, she has elaborated on that decision.
"I loved being a weather presenter. I loved my job, and it was my choice to leave, because I love my husband more, and we want to do things together," she said.
Life After Television
Since retiring, Kirkwood has been busy pursuing her passions alongside her husband, who is also retired. "I'm living the dream, I'm loving it. What they say about retirement is absolutely true, though – you seem to be busier than you were when you were working, and I don't know how that works out, but it's great!" she remarked.
The couple have already started travelling, fulfilling a key retirement ambition. "It's a case of, what are we waiting for?" Kirkwood said. "Steve and I want to travel – that's one of our life's ambitions."
Travel Adventures and Future Plans
They recently attended an Eagles concert at The Sphere in Las Vegas, a trip made possible by Kirkwood's retirement. "We're big fans of The Eagles, and they're doing a long farewell tour around the world, and they were playing in Las Vegas at The Sphere, but we could just never get the dates to work because of annual leave. And then just as I was about to retire, they announced some more dates which we could do because we then had all the free time in the world. So we booked it and went," she recalled.
"Oh my goodness, it was fabulous! And then we went to Matera in southern Italy, which is a really fascinating place, and then to Venice. So we're doing all right for holidays."
Their travel bucket list includes Nashville, Graceland, New Orleans, the Taj Mahal and India's Golden Triangle, and a return to Australia. "Before, like everyone if they're working, we were restricted by annual leave. But now we don't have that restriction any more, so if we want to go somewhere like Australia, we'd go for much longer. So we definitely do have a travel bucket list," Kirkwood said.
Kirkwood began her BBC career in 1998 as a weather presenter for BBC News, and became the main weather presenter on BBC Breakfast in 2010, a role she held until her retirement in April 2026.
