Kirstie Allsopp's love life from single wasteland to 'husband stealer' lies
On screen, it's Kirstie Allsopp who wears the trousers in her TV partnership with fellow house hunter Phil Spencer.
But behind closed doors, Kirstie, 51, is a big advocate for letting the man take the lead.
So much so that she credits it with being one of the reasons her 18-year relationship with millionaire property developer Ben Anderson is so successful.
"If you do what your partner prefers, he is happy and the children have a great time too," she once told Hello! magazine, explaining how she felt it was important to find space for a partner's needs despite the pressure of kids.
She continued: "Your relationship with your partner will last far longer than your children are going to be at home. If you let that relationship slide when your children are little, it might disintegrate and you might not be able to rescue it. So at the weekend I let Ben choose what we do."
Kirstie Allsopp says forcing kids into 'daily unhappiness' is 'greatest regret'
Kirstie Allsopp started dating partner Ben Anderson in 2004 (Jabpromotions/Shutterstock)
Kirstie and Ben have sons Bay Atlas and Oscar Hercules (Getty Images Europe)While some might consider Kirstie's views to be outdated, the Location, Location, Location star first started dreaming of being a wife and mother when she was 16.
Born into blue blood to father Charles Allsopp, Lord Hindlip, former chairman of Christie's, the privately-educated Kirstie was raised in Dorset as the eldest of four children.
Her interior designer mum Fiona wanted more children but was diagnosed with breast cancer when her youngest sister Sophie was two. She sadly died in January 2014, 25 years after her first diagnosis, when it returned to her spine.
Throughout her twenties, Kirstie longed to recreate the lively home she herself grew up in but couldn't find the right person to do it with.
"No one was interested in me in my twenties. I had 'please marry me' tattooed on my forehead. It was so vital to me to get married and have children," she told Stylist of her desperation.
Kirstie found fame in her twenties on Location, Location, Location with Phil Spencer (Channel 4)One boyfriend moved to America, leaving her single in her early thirties.
Another cruelly took aim at her confident personality.
"I was bloody-minded and gauche and that didn't make me attractive," she previously told The Mirror. " One chap said, 'Kirstie, you will make someone a fantastic wife but you are not girlfriend material.' I kept going for good-looking s***s."
But then she met Ben and quickly became a step-mum to his two sons Orion and Hal, who were just five and two at the time.
But their romance was a controversial one, with hurtful and false whispers claiming Kirstie was having a child with someone else's husband and had 'stole' Ben from his wife.
Kirstie Allsopp fumes over reaction to Meg Ryan's appearance after rare outing
Just before they met, Ben had reportedly split from wife of six years, Theresa, then 33. The Oxford graduate and trainee psychoanalyst is said to have been living alone in London with Orion and Hal while Ben was primarily at the former family home in Devon.
Kirstie knew Theresa from school, the pair studied at Bedales, where the former was two years junior.
Kirstie with her beloved late mum Fiona (Desmond O'Neill Features)
Kirstie enjoyed an outing to Winter Wonderland with two of her sons (Getty Images)But the TV star railed against outlandish claims that there was any overlap, telling the Daily Mail that the hurtful gossip was simply, 'not true'.
In fact, it was Theresa who introduced Kirstie and Ben at a party for a then-prospective Tory MP Orlando Fraser.
She told The Mirror in 2009: "Ben and Theresa had been separated for five months. I did not steal anyone's husband and Theresa knows that.
"Of course people fall in love with other people's husbands but luckily when I met Ben and fell in love with him, he was no longer anybody else's husband."
She had her first child, son Bay, when she was 35, followed by son Oscar at 37 and has controversially argued that women should prioritise starting a family in their early 20s so as not to miss out.
"I hit my 30s and then I was very lucky to meet my boyfriend. I was 35 when I had my first child and 37 when I had my second," she said.
Kirstie was 35 when she gave birth for the first time (WireImage)
She once urged women to start a family sooner rather than later (PA)"We are no more able to have children later than we have ever been. I don't say this smugly - I got in just under the wire."
Ben's divorce did, however, mean that marriage was off the cards, and that's something Kirstie came to be in agreement with.
"Ben won't ever marry me. He sat me down 10 days after we'd met and said, 'I never want to be married again but I'd like to have children with you and live with you for the rest of my life'. It was almost like a proposal," she told The Mirror.
"I felt I had to say OK. Ben is an amazing person who I love very much."
As for their blended family, Kirstie said that while she was 'tougher' than Theresa, they always shared a 'good relationship', with Kirstie's youngest two attending the same school that Theresa's subsequent two children did.
And Kirstie is forever grateful for the large and boisterous brood she has.
She said: "I have what I want in life. Two adorable children, two great stepchildren, and a partner I adore."
* Love It or List It airs tonight at 8pm on Channel 4
Do you agree with Kirstie's stance on fertility and marriage? Share your thoughts in the comments section below...
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
