Inside Mary Berry’s 59-year marriage to rarely-seen husband – devastating loss; affair confession; horror accident at home

Mary Berry has been married to her husband Paul Hunnings for years – but what do we know about their romance?

The national treasure – who recently turned 90 – is a staple on screens thanks to her appearances on shows such as The Great British Bake Off and Mary Berry’s Love to Cook.

Away from the TV sets though, Mary – who is on A Mary Berry Christmas today (December 21) – is happily married to Paul Hunnings. But when did they tie the knot? And how did their son tragically die? Here, ED! is taking a look inside Mary and Paul’s relationship…

Mary is married to husband Paul (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Mary Berry’s husband proposed three times

Mary has been married to Paul Hunnings since 1966. But it turns out it took Mary a lot of convincing to settle down and marry Paul.

In 2017, she revealed that Paul had proposed three times before she accepted his hand in marriage. During an episode of her BBC show Mary Berry Everyday, the couple appeared together. They chatted about their decades-long marriage together.

“I do remember the first proposal and I think you were drunk,” Mary told her husband.

“Well I might have been. It’s a big step. You don’t go into something like that without a bit of fortification,” he replied.

Mary added: “I think you had too much and I can remember telling you you were drunk and thinking, I’m not going to have anything to do with this man. But you came back.”

Eventually, Mary decided to say yes to Paul after he told her: “I’m getting on in age. So either it’s yes or no.”

Mary’s son died in 1989 (Credit: ITV)

Mary Berry and husband Paul’s son’s death

Mary and Paul had three children: Thomas, Annabel and William. Sadly, William died in 1989 in a car accident when he was a teen.

William passed away when he was at home enjoying a break from his studies at Bristol Poly. According to Mary, she’d cooked roast lamb the night before – William’s favourite – and he asked to borrow the car to go and pick up the weekend papers.

However, after some time, there was a knock at the door, and Mary opened it to see a policeman standing in her driveway. She said at the time that she “just knew” William had died. Sister Annabel, who was a passenger in the car, survived.

Visiting her son’s body after he died in the local hospital, Mary revealed to Vogue in 2025: “He just looked so beautiful and so lovely. His little cold face.”

The former Great British Bake Off star added: “You know, we were so lucky to have him. He brought us such joy. I feel for people who have lost their child in a skiing accident or when they don’t know where they died. We got to be a family unit [right up until] those few hours before he died.”

She admitted to ‘keeping her options open’ (Credit: The Great British Bake Off YouTube)

 Mary’s affair confession

While Mary and Paul have managed to have quite a fairy tale relationship over the years, according to Mary, he wasn’t exactly her first choice when it came to a suitor.

Back in 2019, Mary confessed that during the early days of her romance with Paul, she had another boyfriend in a different city as well as “several” others…

“Paul was a friend of my brother’s. And I met him and we sort of did things together,” Mary explained on Sue Perkins’ An Hour or So With… podcast.

Mary then cheekily revealed: “But I had another boyfriend in Bath, and he was in London and I used to go home at the weekend… Paul was the London one and I had a Bath one, actually there were several in Bath. You keep your options open.”

She shared a health update recently (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Paul’s horror accident at home

In October, Mary revealed that Paul had an accident at home and broke several ribs.

She told Saga magazine: “He’s just had a tumble with broken ribs. I’m very sympathetic about that. But he’s getting better day by day. Soon we’ll have him back to his own old self.”

Mary went on: “I love my husband far more now than I’ve ever done before. Now, in his dotage, he’s not so well. It’s a sheer pleasure looking after him, because he’s so grateful.”

A month later, Mary issued a health update on husband Paul. Talking to Yours Magazine, Mary reflected on her age and revealed she feels “so lucky” to be in good health. However, she then noted that Paul isn’t as lucky as she is health-wise.

“He’s terribly frail, but very cherished and well looked after,” she said.

Mary went on: “Just as I was leaving, I gave him a little plate of smoked salmon, a wedge of lemon, and I cut the crusts off the bread. And though he doesn’t have a drink with it, I’ll do the drinking when I get in.”

Watch A Mary Berry Christmas on Sunday (December 21) at 12:00pm on BBC One.