Sally Nugent's life away from BBC Breakfast – heartbreak to 'affair' claims
Sally Nugent is a well-known face from BBC Breakfast, having been a presenter on the show for over a decade.
The 52-year-old worked as a sports journalist before becoming one of the main hosts in 2021, when she took over from predecessor Louise Minchin. Fans can tune in to watch her alongside Jon Kay every Monday to Wednesday mornings.
She is also one of the celebs taking part in this year’s Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special, which airs on Christmas Day, alongside former rugby player Danny Cipriani, EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick, Sugababes singer Keisha Buchanan, historian Dan Snow and kids TV presenter and actress Tillie Amartey, who will be hitting screens in the new series of Waterloo Road in January.
Born on The Wirral near Liverpool in 1971, Sally graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communication arts and French from the University of Huddersfield. Her first media gig was at BBC Radio Merseyside, before moving on to read sports news on BBC North West Tonight.
By 2003 she had become a sports reporter for BBC News, appearing on national bulletins, before making the move to BBC Breakfast in 2011, where she has worked ever since. But away from the cameras, Sally has a son, who she doesn’t share any information about. She is often spotted on glam nights out and holidays with her celebrity pals in tow. Sadly, she recently announced she had split from her husband of 13 years. Here’s what we know about her life off-screen...
EastEnders' Jake Wood's snap of son has fans pointing out the pair's likeness
Famous pals
Sally has struck up a friendship with Strictly star Nadiya Bychkova (Instagram)
She will dance with Graziano Di Prima in this year's Strictly Christmas Special (Instagram)Through her job, Sally often gets to meet famous people and has been pictured with huge sports stars such as Andy Murray, Tom Daley, Marcus Rashford, Roger Federer, Liverpool FC manager Jurgen Klopp and ex-England rugby star and royal Mike Tindall.
As well as faces from the world of sport, Sally often shares snaps with her BBC Breakfast co-stars Jon Kay, Ben Thompson, Nina Warhurst and Carol Kirkwood.
Ever since her former co-star Dan Walker appeared on Strictly back in 2021, it seems Sally has been pals with pro dancer Nadiya Bychkova, who he was partnered with, and there are several snaps of them on her Instagram feed. Perhaps this is what inspired Sally to have a go herself...
In one recent photo, Sally and Nadiya are pictured holding glasses of rose champagne, with Sally captioning the post: “My kind of breakfast.” In another post from February 2022, Sally is pictured with Nadiya and Dan and wrote: “Spent a lovely day with @nadiyabychkova learning how to dance. Watch out @mrdanwalker I think she prefers me.”
Fancy holidays and glam nights out
Sally has been spotted on holiday with famous pals including Steph McGovern (Instagram)
The fancy swimming pool at the villa where she enjoyed a summer holiday (Instagram)It seems Sally is a big fan of a glam night out and has often been spotted dressed up to the nines to attend various media events, award shows and showbiz parties. Her favourite kind of outfit is a floor-length dress and she was spotted in a one shoulder red number for this year’s National Television Awards.
She is definitely a fan of a holiday and has shared snaps from trips to Paris, San Sebastian in Spain, Greece and the French Riviera recently. And it seems she is a ski fan as one photo shows a bubbling hot tub surrounded by snow in the French Alps.
While it’s unclear exactly where they are, Sally shared snaps from a summer holiday in June with former BBC presenter Steph McGovern, who went on to host her own daytime TV show Steph’s Packed Lunch. BBC journalist Lizzie Simmons and make-up artist Patrick Barley were also invited on the glam trip.
In one pic the foursome are photographed in front of a huge surf board with a sandy beach and day beds in the background. Another shows the idyllic pool at the villa where it is thought they were staying. More snaps show they out for fancy dinners and a fireworks show.
The trip at the end of June could have been to celebrate Sally’s birthday, which falls on August 5. She captioned the post: “Special people. Special place. Thank you @lizziesimmons7 @stephlunch @patricktbartley.”
Secret teenage son
Award-winner Sally has a teenage son, but prefers to keep him out of the spotlight (Instagram)Sally is known to have one child, a son. But she is fiercely private about her personal life and has never revealed his name, age or any photos of him in media articles or on her social media channels. Though he is said to be a teenager now and followed in her sporting footsteps as he is “football and rugby mad”.
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Giving a rare insight into her family life in an interview with The Sunday Times, Sally said: “My alarm goes off at 3.45am. I don’t have a loud, scary one that gives you a coronary. I use a light box that gently wakes me. I have a backup phone alarm set every five minutes from 3.50am.”
She added that because she wakes up so early for work, she is mindful of waking her loved ones when she gets up and it is still dark. She revealed: “Before I do anything, I check the overnight briefing notes to see which guests have been confirmed, what news I’ve sleep through and the latest political line. I don’t wake my husband or son. I’m a tiptoer. I have years of experience.”
Shock marriage split
Sally reportedly split from husband Gavin Hawthorn this year after 13 years of marriage (BBC/LinkedIn)Sally has also been very private about her 13-year marriage to husband Gavin Hawthorn and he is also not pictured on her social media channels, much like her son isn’t. However, in May this year it was reported Sally and Gavin had “amicably” split after allegedly “growing apart”. The couple are said to have been "moving in different directions" according to a source close to the pair.
"It's very sad but they are no longer together," the source told the . “I think they tried to tough it out for quite a while as they didn't want to split up if they could possibly help it for the sake of their son, but they clearly couldn't make a go of it.”
While Sally was said to be “devastated” by the split, she has remained tight-lipped on the alleged breakdown of her marriage. Gavin is now thought to have moved out of the £1.4 million Cheshire home they shared. In September, while discussing Davina McCall ’s new ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad, with BBC Breakfast co-host Jon Kay jokingly asked if Sally was on it. Giving an indicator of where she is at with her dating life, she curtly replied: “Not this year, no.”
'Affair' claims with co-star
Sally's former co-host Dan Walker was forced to deny they were having an affair (Twitter)Back in 2020, when Dan Walker was still on BBC Breakfast, he was forced to publicly deny having an affair with Sally after a cruel troll suggested they were sleeping together.
The former host, who has been married to wife Sarah for more than 20 years and has three kids, made it very clear how little he appreciated someone questioning whether or not there was something going on between them.
Someone tweeted: "Is @mrdanwalker bending one in that bird from the @BBCBreakfast show?" Lashing out at the “pathetic” comment, a seething Dan shared the post and responded: "'That bird' is my friend @sallynugent and she is happily married [at the time]. What a pathetic thing to tweet. I hope you treat that young girl in your twitter banner photo with a bit more respect.”
Cute dog who is 'the boss'
Sally's pet pooch is a sweet cavapoo called Sadie (Instagram)One thing presenter Sally is happy to discuss online is her adorable pet pooch, Sadie.
The dog is a regular feature on her Instagram page, where she routinely shares snaps of her beloved dog with her 80,000 followers. The sweet cavapoo - a mix of a Cavalier King Charles and a toy poodle - looks like she gets pampered regularly by the Nugent family. In one snap, Sally admitted that Sadie is “the boss of this house”. In another she revealed: “I treated Sadie to a very smart collar and lead. A change from her usual pink sparkly one.”
* Watch the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special on December 25 at 4.40pm on BBC1 or BBC iPlayer
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