One of the BBC‘s most familiar faces has opened up about the private struggles she has faced off-air, which she says are world apart from her happy on-screen persona.

Carol Kirkwood, 63, who has been a staple of daytime TV since 1997 as a weatherwoman, recently reflected on her divorce from Scottish property developer Jimmy Kirkwood back in 2008.

She says this was a particularly difficult time in her life, as despite losing the man she had been married to for 18 years, she had no option but to remain smiley on-screen.

The star told Candis magazine: ‘I’d still have to be smiling Carol on-screen.

‘I’d come off-air – we broadcast from the Blue Peter gardens in those days – go to the Ladies, have a good cry, and then reapply my eye make-up before stepping in front of the cameras again…

‘In a funny way, though, it helped with the healing process. I put my grief into a compartment that I kept separate from my work, otherwise I’d have ended up in a puddle of tears.’

Carol Kirkwood , 63, who has been a staple of daytime TV since 1997 as a weatherwoman, recently reflected on her divorce from Scottish property developer Jimmy Kirkwood in 2008

She says this was a particularly difficult time in her life, as despite losing the man she had been married to for 18 years, she had no option but to remain smiley on-screen as a BBC weatherwoman

Carol said that, in its own way, her job ‘kept her going’ as she went through the painful separation.

This is because it forced her to develop a ‘public face’ and a ‘private face’.

But while Carol’s first marriage did not work out, she went on to find love again with police officer Steve Randall, who she married in 2023.

The weatherwoman previously joked that she is ‘punching’ with her new partner.

She described him as ‘very romantic and very generous’ to PA and described him as a ‘lovely man’.

She reminisced that the early stages of their romance were ‘nice’ as they started out as friends.

When their relationship eventually turned romantic, he even turned down Carol’s offer to sell her home.

Carol told The Times: ‘I offered to sell my home so we could buy a place together, but he’s happy living here. He’s a keeper. He’s a very good cook and tidy as well, tidier than I am.’

But while Carol’s first marriage did not work out, she went on to find love again with police officer Steve Randall, who she married in 2023.

At the time of their meeting, the star said she was ‘happily single’ after taking some time out of dating to ‘find herself’ following the breakdown of her almost 20-year-long marriage.

The TV personality told Saga: ‘Meeting my husband Steve was fate.

‘We were at a function neither of us wanted to go to. It was a Sliding Doors moment – if I hadn’t gone, we would never have met. We chatted, he gave me his number, and ages later, we met for coffee.’

Carol said it was ultimately a ‘shock’ when Steve proposed, despite the pair previously discussing marriage.

During the pair’s eventual wedding at Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire, the couple wrote their own vows and chose to have no guests at the ‘perfect’, private ceremony.