Former Bake Off judge Prue Leith has described being "bloody lonely" after the death of her first husband in 2002, calling her failure to build close friendships "one of the only regrets" of her life.
The 86-year-old, who left the show earlier this year after nearly a decade, spoke candidly about her regret in an interview with the Daily Mail. She admitted: "I've been very bad at friendship. I never thought it was important. If someone had said, 'You don't have any friends,' I'd have said, 'What do we need friends for?' It didn't occur to me it was unwise."
A Life-Changing Loss
Leith said the realisation hit her after her first husband, property developer Rayne Kruger, passed away in 2002. She found herself with no close friends and barely knowing her neighbours, something she later "regretted" enormously.
She has since remarried, meeting her second husband, John Playfair, in 2010. Leith revealed that Playfair is "very good at friendship" and has brought a whole new social circle to their Cotswold home.
Why She Left Bake Off
The confession follows her recent admission that one reason she stepped down from Bake Off was that she felt she was "running out of time" to enjoy summer holidays, which is when much of the Channel 4 show's filming takes place.
She told Woman Magazine: "You can't be 86 without thinking about death a bit. I realised that I would never have a summer holiday in Europe again. Two years ago, I told them I was going to leave and they asked why and I said because I want a holiday in the summer."
Leith, who said she "really loved" her time on the programme, has been replaced by Nigella Lawson, who now joins Paul Hollywood on the judging panel.
Summer Adventures and New Show
This summer, Leith spent a month exploring Poland, Latvia and Estonia with her husband, then rented a house in Biarritz, France, for a month with the whole family.
She is set to return to TV screens with a new travel show, Prue & Sandi's South African Adventure, which follows her journeying around her homeland of South Africa alongside former Bake Off co-star Sandi Toksvig. The programme is due to air on Channel 4 later this month.
