‘I want to live until I'M 100!'

Gloria Hunniford reveals the secret to her longevity and why her mum would turn in her grave if she heard all she talks about on TV

- SOFIA ZAGZOULE

At the age of 81, Gloria Hunniford’s TV career is still going strong, as a presenter of Rip Off Britain and regular on the chat show Loose Women. But her family is still the most important thing in her life, including keeping alive the memory of her daughter Caron. ‘For Christmas, I bought Caron a beautiful red heart wreath for her gravestone. She loved hearts and I always put a Christmas tree there. It’s very tough. We turn right, go home to a warm home full of family, and left is where Caron is resting. But the family’s getting bigger. Stephen [Way, Gloria’s second husband] has two sons in Cornwall, and one has five children. By the time you add partners, there are about 18 of them.

‘When [Girls Aloud singing star] Sarah Harding died, it was very emotional – it brought it back. When Caron got breast cancer in her 30s, I didn’t know of young girls getting it. When she told me she had a lump, she’d had a baby a few weeks beforehand. I said, “It’s just a milk bump, I’m quite sure.” The doctor said the same. It was such a shock in those days – you thought it happened to older people. We know with hindsight, and with education, that cancer can strike anybody at any age. Caron was very fit. She’d done Blue Peter and This Morning. She had two beautiful boys, a lovely husband, everything going for her.