ITV favourite Lorraine Kelly has recalled the “state of shock” she felt after GMTV replaced her during maternity leave.
The ITV presenter, 66, shared the story on Saga’s Experience is Everything podcast. She now hosts the show, taking over from the late Dame Jenni Murray.
Lorraine explained that her replacement on GMTV came with barely any warning after she gave birth to daughter Rosie.
ITV star Lorraine Kelly on Anne Diamond’s influence during pregnancy
Lorraine said pregnancy on screen was still rare when she presented GMTV alongside Eamonn Holmes.
She credited fellow presenter Anne Diamond with paving the way for pregnant women on air. Anne faced criticism for appearing pregnant on television, Lorraine recalled.
Lorraine said she also received some backlash, though social media’s absence softened the impact.
Rosie was born in June 1994, and Lorraine was due back at work that September.
Weeks before her return, GMTV called with the news. “Sorry, we’ve got someone else. Thanks a bunch, but we’ve got someone else. Thanks for all your work. Bye bye,” she recalled being told.
Lorraine admitted the call left her reeling. “I was in a state of shock really,” she said.
How Lorraine Kelly found work after leaving GMTV
Money worries deepened the crisis, Lorraine said. She and husband Steve Smith had just moved south with a large mortgage to cover.
She wrote a column for a parenting magazine while searching for new television work.
Lorraine travelled the length of Britain with her baby under one arm and a VHS tape under the other. “I got my VHS of my best bits – baby under one arm, VHS under the other and I just went around from the top of Scotland right the way down, and said ‘I’m available,'” she said.
GMTV eventually called again, offering Lorraine a mother-and-baby slot alongside Dr Hilary Jones in November 1994. That slot led to her landing her own show soon afterwards.
Lorraine Kelly’s new ITV contract
Lorraine has signed a new one-year contract with ITV, keeping her on screen amid uncertainty over her show’s future.
“I’ve just signed a new contract,” she recently said at the Edinburgh Book Festival. “I’ll be there until next November, definitely, and after that we will see what happens.”
ITV cut her show, on air since 2010, to 30 weeks a year. Bosses also reduced it from an hour to 30 minutes as part of a daytime shake-up.
Read more: Lorraine Kelly’s daughter Rosie is married after ‘most special weekend of their lives’
Asked whether she would eventually step away from television, Lorraine didn’t hesitate. “Oh gosh, yes, absolutely,” she said.
She named daughter Rosie and two-year-old granddaughter Billie as her main focus going forward. “They are the centre of the universe,” she said.
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