Fern Britton, the former This Morning presenter, has spoken candidly about the heartbreaking experience of saying goodbye to her twin sons when they left for university, describing the moment as 'very brutal' and 'very difficult'.
Emotional Goodbye to Twins
Appearing on Kate Thornton's podcast White Wine Question Time, Britton discussed the emotional turmoil of seeing her children leave home. After Thornton mentioned her own 18-year-old son heading to university, Britton shared her experience: 'It's very difficult. Yes. One minute there's six of you and then there's only you.'
Britton is mother to four adult children: Grace, 28, and twin sons Harry and Jack, both 31, with former husband Clive Jones, and Winnie, 23, with ex-husband Phil Vickers. She noted that while farewells with her other children were spread out, parting with the twins was a different challenge entirely.
Advice for Parents
Britton offered advice to Thornton, explaining that tensions are inevitable on moving day. 'Very brutal. Just suddenly gone and didn't want me to deliver them or anything really. So that was very hard, but it taught me some things like to accept that they are going to be tensions on the morning, because you're all emotionally involved.'
She added: 'There's going to be little spats like "I'll take your bag! I can do it mother" all the sort of stuff.'
Reflections on Family Distance
This is not the first time Britton has spoken about her children. In a previous interview with Hello magazine, she expressed a desire to see them more often but acknowledged the geographical distance. 'The boys are nearly 31 and they're busy in their own lives, but they're good guys. We live a long way from each other, but we speak a lot - they ask me how I am and that's great. That's all I need. I'd like to see them more, but that's life.'
Open About Divorce
Britton has also been candid about the effects of divorce. Speaking to The Telegraph last year, she said: 'Divorce is not a breeze. No matter how you hope it's going to be easy and pain-free, inevitably it isn't. It's difficult and brings up a lot of unpleasant characteristics in everybody. Then, when it's finally over, there's a little bit of time where you have to just let the emotions subside. And then you can start looking back on how things were good and it was unfortunate that it just ran out of steam or whatever it was.'
New TV Show
Britton is set to appear in a new programme, Fern Britton: Inside The Vets, which launched on July 12 at 11.30am on ITV.
