17 November 2023 , 18:45
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Mel Giedroyc is a regular face on our screens, hosting everything from BBC's Children in Need to Channel 4's The Great British Bake off to ITV's Mel and Sue with best friend Sue Perkins. But what is her life like away from the camera?
In 2002 Mel married her sweetheart Ben Morris, who is a television director and teacher at LAMDA. The pair first met at a dinner party in 2000. "I couldn't do my job without Ben, we do pretty much half and half," she once told the Press Association.
"But, you know what it's like, it's juggling, it's who is going to be there for that, who can go to that school concert, that has been our lives for the last 16 years. I wouldn't have it any other way but without him I could not do this job and I thank him every blooming day because it's wonderful and its a partnership. It feels equal, it feels great."
Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc (BBC)They share two daughters together, Florence, 21, and Vita, 20. Sadly, in 2021 Mel hit hard times when she revealed that she and Ben had to move into a 'tiny' flat after almost declaring bankruptcy because of their high mortgage. "I had a horrific feeling for about a year of sleepless nights, thinking, "we're in a situation we can't afford," she said to The Telegraph.
"We only bought it because the bank lent us a stupid amount of money – we didn't have that money, it didn't exist – and that really got me thinking. I don't want to spin some sob story – we were never going to be homeless. But we had to sell our house very, very quickly and we moved into a tiny flat we rented and put all our stuff in storage," she added.
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But Mel said the scare taught her a lesson about needing to 'reset,' which inspired the plot for her debut novel The Best Things, which came out in 2021. The book revolves around a family who have to figure out how to survive when they realise they've run out of money.
Mel feared she'd made a big mistake by hosting Bake Off (BBC/Love Productions/Tom Graham)Meanwhile, it's not the first bold move Mel has made when it comes to her career. The star stunned fans by leaving the The Great British Bake Off in 2016 and admitting she thought the show would spark the end of her career.
"I thought it would be career suicide," she said, before adding, "Sue and I spent the whole first series saying, 'this is a disaster. What have we done?'" In a previous interview, Mel explained that she worried that the premise of the show lacked entertainment value.
"I remember phoning Perks [Sue] saying, 'Don't worry, mate – no one's ever going to see this,'" she confessed to The Guardian. "Because we were really scared. There was a plethora of food shows on telly, so I just thought… 'Really?'" she said, after admitting she was the 'voice of doom' ahead of its premiere.
Mel - who fans are often surprised to learn is 55 - also admitted she and Sue nearly quit the show on the first day of filming, over concerns it was taking an antagonistic turn. "We're quite cheesy and homespun and we just want to have a laugh," said Sue. "Who wants to see people crying? I don’t. Especially if you work in television and you know the mechanisms that have been used to make them cry."