Grieving Loose Women star Gloria Hunniford declares she “happy to be alive” as she releases a new pop album at the age 84 – just six months after losing her beloved husband Stephen Way
She was just seven when she earned her first pay day as a singer in her native Ireland. And in the 77 years since she has barely stopped.
Now a Loose Women regular and one of the hosts of BBC’s Rip Off Britain, she’s a staple on our screens each week.
But it isn’t just her passion for righting wrongs and fighting charlatans that is driving her to keep working.
In an exclusive interview, she reveals it’s actually the only thing that can s ave her from her grief. So she determined to do what it takes to keep busy.
It’s been 21 years since she lost daughter Caron Keating to cancer – and just six months since she lost her husband Stephen Way, aged 85, after 30 years together.
“Work makes me feel safe, because I have a structure, I know what I’m supposed to be doing,” she explains. “All the emotional stuff and all the heartbreak, that’s the hard bit to cope with.
“As long as you can take your [self] away from grief for an hour it helps clear your mind for a little while.”
She adds: “I’ve worked since I was seven and for me doing things and keeping busy is good for my head. To do nothing would be miserable for me. My way of coping wouldn’t be for everybody and I’m sure it’s quite controversial, but I love work.”
It’s been especially vital these past few months. Gloria – who turns 85 on April 10 – is currently experiencing a year of firsts without her beloved “Stevie” : the first Christmas, first birthday, first anniversary….
Gloria and “Stevie” were together for 30 years and married for 26
She and the businessman were together since the mid-1990s and married in 1998, six years after her divorce from the father of her three children Don Keating.
“Some of my worst times when Caron passed and also when Stevie passed were if I was at home on my own,” she reveals. “And suddenly your mind wanders and you think: ‘what happened there, for goodness’ sake?’.”
It was a similarly poignant reason that prompted Gloria to take part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2005, a year after losing Caron, aged just 41. While Gloria’s Rumba was given just two points by notoriously-harsh Craig Revel Horwood, she still loved it. “When Caron died, I said: ‘I don’t think I’ll ever smile again’,” Gloria recalls. “One of my sons found that very sad, so when Strictly came up, they said: ‘look, it’ll be good for you.’
“And it was. It gave me something to laugh about, it was a challenge, the people were lovely and the glitter was lovely; it was helpful.
“One of the hardest aspects of grief is when you lose a child. You cannot carry a baby for nine months, love that child and not feel the incredible pain at losing that child. It’s indescribable.”
Gloria Hunniford with daughter Caron Keating (Image: Daily Mirror)
While Gloria clearly relishes trying something new – this spring will see her competing in Celebrity Bake Off – she is best known as a regular panellist on the ITV lunchtime chat show Loose Women, as well as for her campaigning work on the acclaimed BBC consumer series Rip Off Britain, which she has presented for the past 16 years, currently alongside Julia Somerville and Louise Minchin.
Rightly proud of both programmes, she hopes to still be working on them at 90. “It depends whether the producers would still want me when I was heading towards 90, but I’ve no plans to retire,” she says.
“Work may retire me, or I may be unlucky enough to have some pain or ache or a situation where I can’t do it, but give or take, I want to do it for as long as they want me.”
Gloria is, after all, determined to wring every moment of joy out of her days. “I’m glad to still be alive,” she explains when thinking about her upcoming birthday. “The years go by so bloody quickly.
“I don’t like the zeros – 60, 70 and 80, but once that zero has passed, you just continue.
“I try not to think about age too much.
“But then sometimes I hear myself mentioning it, like when the gas company are supposed to read my meter.
“I say: ‘I am in my 80s you know, I’m in a vulnerable category.’ There comes a point when you start using it for yourself!”
Gloria Hunniford sang purr-fectly as Snow Leopard on the 2022 series of The Masked Singer (Image: ITV)
She’s certainly not letting her age put her off her ambitions.
In the 1980s she spent eight years at the helm of the popular chat show Sunday, Sunday, where she interviewed a host of A-list stars, from Audrey Hepburn and Doris Day to Charlton Heston. More than 40 years on she would love to do it again.
“We had every Hollywood star that you can think of,” she smiles. “I loved talking to people, so if somebody thought that there was a chat show in an 80-something I would be so thrilled!”
Meanwhile Gloria’s latest venture sees her re-releasing her 1979 studio album A Taste of Hunni. Fans of ITV’s The Masked Singer will remember her impressive vocals on the show in 2022 as Snow Leopard, but she actually began singing in her native Northern Ireland as a child.
“My dad worked for newspapers by day and he was a magician by night and when I was seven, he asked me to join him,” she says. “They were called concert parties and we’d perform in church halls, town halls and schools. There was no TV then, so that was everyone’s entertainment.”
Gloria released several singles during the 60s and 70s and even supported Roy Orbison when he toured her native Northern Ireland in 1969.
Gloria Hunniford reunited with her good friend Sir Cliff Richard at her album launch party last week(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Will she be back in the charts in time for her 85th birthday? Gloria was smiling again as she celebrated the re-release of her 1979 album A Taste Of Hunni(Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
A decade later she recorded A Taste of Hunni, a collection of popular songs, including Feelings, You Are The Sunshine of My Life and What the World Needs Now. Today, 46 years later, she’s just thrown a lavish album launch party with the likes of Sir Cliff Richard to celebrate its re-release. She will know how it charts by the end of the week.
“To have a record out at this stage of my life is so exciting,” she smiles. “Mind you, there are some records I made in Ireland that I’d pay anybody to bury and never be seen again!
“But actually, I’m really pleased with this one – the song choice is good, the musicians are good, the arrangements are good and I could really sing in those days.
“So many memories are tied up in this album. It feels like my life has come full circle, so it’s a real thrill to have it re-released.”
It was following a BBC interview in Belfast about her singing career that Gloria ended up switching careers. Out of the blue they offered her a job in broadcasting, with her new boss telling her: ‘Remember, you’re as good as any bloke in this room.’ “That took away any worry that I might have had about sexism,” she recalls.
After starting in Ulster, she moved to London and became the first woman to have her own Radio 2 show. A host of programmes followed before she joined Loose Women a decade ago.
“I love the camaraderie,” she says of the daytime show. “I enjoy the meetings in the morning as much as the air-time – it’s much naughtier than anything that goes on air!”
Gloria’s album is getting re-released for a whole new generation
Work may be Gloria’s emotional crutch, but she also knows her family are there to lean on when things get really hard.
Her sons Paul and Michael were vital in helping her through her painful first Christmas without Stevie.
“I was dreading Christmas because Stevie and I had 30 Christmases together, but my boys really saved the festive season,” says Gloria, who lives in Kent..
“The youngest one Michael did Christmas and my two grandchildren from Caron were able to spend three days with us. Then for New Year we all went to France and then Fort Lauderdale for a week and sat in the sun. My sons organised all of that, which was really kind.
“I think as you get older you really appreciate your children more and more. My two boys have been so amazing since Stephen died. Having children was the best thing I ever did in my life.”
