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Carol says marriage isn't for her (Image: Getty)
To the despair of pals who keep trying to set her up with men, Carol Vorderman says she’s fiercely opposed to the idea of marriage. Twice married – and divorced – by the age of 40, Carol doesn’t believe in being third time lucky.
The former Countdown presenter turned political activist has no interest in marrying again: “No, I don't want that,” she told Saga Magazine. “I have a few men I see every now and again, men I have known for years”
But even people who know her well can’t believe she’s happy on her own. “Even my closest friends will still say to me, ‘What about so and so?’,” she said.
Carol enjoys the company of a number of 'special friends' when she feels like it (Image: Humphrey Nemar)
At 63, Carol is comfortable in her own skin and relishes the freedom of single life, adding: “If I want to go on a cruise on the fjords I'll happily go on my own - I don't feel I need to have a partner.
“I'm happy with my life, happy with my own company,” Carol adds. “I'm looking forward to what is coming next.”
She does still go out on the odd date, but “Not as often as people probably think.” Instead she has a loose group of “friends with benefits” that provide companionship as and when she needs it.
She has gone from Countdown maths wizard to fierce political activist (Image: carolvorders/Instagram)
Speaking on ITV's This Morning back in 2022, she said: "Our mothers told us that we should marry when we were still 18 or 19 or 20, so we grew up with that convention that you should find one partner for life. My view is not quite like that.
"Half of first marriages end in divorce, and nearly three quarters of second marriages end in divorce. So I prefer to live my life in chapters."
Some of those chapters have men in them: “I have ignored the looking for one person and I have a number of what I've called 'special friends’,” she revealed.
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One of Carol's man-friends called her from orbit (Image: Instagram)
"They don't know each other, but they know about it. It's a very honest relationship.” And that openness seems to be working to everyone’s benefit – Carol says she’s been involved with one man for over a decade – longer than either of her marriages.
Another of Carol’s “special friends” is involved in the ultimate long-distance relationship: “He's an astronaut,” she says. “He rang me from the space station”
She adds that she’s not really interested in a wild fling with a toy boy, and the men in her life are interested in a more mature kind of relationship: "They're not looking for love, they'e looking for companionship, looking for friendship, it may turn into love. The age is really immaterial, but my experience suggests that somebody roughly in your age bracket. You have more in common."
English (US) ·