Carol Kirkwood teases potential BBC exit as she addresses future after admitting to facing ‘abuse’ on show
Carol Kirkwood has addressed her potential exit from BBC Breakfast after decades with the broadcaster.
The 63-year-old has been on the morning show for 27 years, and while she recently hinted she isn’t quite ready to retire, the meteorologist has since shared her hopes to flee the UK and travel with her husband.
Kirkwood married second husband Steve Randall, 49, in late 2023. Speaking earlier this month, she enthused about her job and how much she loves presenting the weather.
“There will be a day, obviously, when that [retirement] happens, but for now I still love the weather,” she told Radio Times.
However, talking about her love of Majorca, the BBC Breakfast staple seemed to indicate she wouldn’t be opposed to leaving for the Spanish island, and suggested she may not make her 30th anniversary at the job.
“We fell in love with Majorca, which is where we went so I could research my fifth novel, Meet Me at Sunset, about a woman running away from a shattered love affair,” she explained.
“Steve and I also plan to escape and travel for some time when we retire, perhaps in a year or two.
“We’ll either travel in a camper van, or get in the car, cross over to France and just drive.”
The admission came shortly after Kirkwood opened up about “abuse” she faces online. “I get so much abuse on a regular basis – you get some real vitriol on X,” she revealed to Radio Times, before stating she is able to brush off these comments now.
Kirkwood also opened up on her police officer husband Steve, stating their age gap doesn’t bother her.
“Steve is 50 this year. Other people’s opinions about an age gap don’t matter – I don’t feel he is younger than me,” she told Saga Magazine.
Describing their meeting as “fate,” she continued: “We were at a function neither of us wanted to go to.
“It was a Sliding Doors moment – if I hadn’t gone, we would never have met. We chatted, he gave me his number, and ages later, we met for coffee.”
Recalling how she hadn’t intended to find love, she added: “He was only a friend before we became involved. I wasn’t looking for a romance; I was happy being single. After a 25-year marriage, I needed to find myself.”
The meteorologist had been married to property developer Jimmy Kirkwood for 18 years before their split, which she described as “devastating” at the time.
However, she has since said: “Love is lovelier the second time around. No disrespect to my first husband, but this is better.”
Kirkwood was forced to make clear at the time of her wedding that she hadn’t done it “in secret,” but that it was instead a very small ceremony.
The weather presenter stated on X in December 2023: “Thank you so much for all your lovely messages. We had the most perfect day.
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“It was a tiny wedding but so romantic and intimate. A day we will never forget. We are bursting with happiness.
“It wasn’t a ‘secret’ wedding, just a private one.”