Loose Women panellist Kaye Adams has opened up about her personal life over the years, from lying about her age to her daughters to deciding not to get married to her long-term partner

Television presenter Kaye Adams has been in the public eye for over three decades, famously hosting ITV’s Loose Women, starring on Strictly Come Dancing and presenting BBC Radio Scotland. All the while, she has been in a long-term relationship with her partner Ian Campbell, though he rarely makes appearances in the spotlight.

Kaye, 60, and Ian first met when he was her tennis coach over 30 years ago, and their relationship was long-distance for a while, with Ian dividing his time between Italy and Scotland. After eight years, the couple decided to settle down in Glasgow and start a family together, though neither of them were fussed about marriage.

She has never felt the desire to get married to her partner-of-30-years, Ian ( 
Image:
Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)Speaking about her decision to not walk down the aisle, Kaye previously told the Mirror: “When we first met Ian was in his late 20s working as a tennis coach, spending half his life in Italy and half in Scotland, and he was not a man going to settle down. He’s an unconventional person and I didn’t have any great thoughts of settling down at that stage either. It was just a relationship that carried on and carried on, very happily, and maybe we just passed the point of getting married.”

She added: “We don’t have an anniversary but we’ve been together for about 22 years. But if Ian wants to pop the question and I get a decent ring and a good holiday out of it I wouldn’t say no.” Kaye said having daughters Charly and Bonnie was all the commitment she needed. “The huge decision for Ian and I was to have children and I guess that was our equivalent of getting married,” she said. “It was eight years before we had kids and I think, for us, that represents our commitment to each other. We would never have had children if we weren’t going to stay together and getting married isn’t something that needs to happen for our relationship.”

Kaye with her partner Ian, their two daughters and her parents on holiday ( 
Image:
ITV)

‘Traumatic lie’

Kaye once admitted that she lied to her daughters about her age, shaving a whole decade off the real number. The presenter invented a fake date of birth, cut 10 years off and kept up the pretence for a long while before finally coming clean. She said Charly was unaware until she confessed the truth when her girl turned 12.

“It’s pathetic but I lopped off 10 years and merrily lied away, including a fake date of birth which I had off pat,” Kaye told the Mirror. “I’m generally an honest person but I’ve always been a good liar and parents lie all the time to little children. At the time I did it without thinking – it’s just a stupid habit you get into and think it’s funny. But now when I look back, I think, ‘Oh my God, you were sick.'”

Kaye, who was 40 when her daughter was born, adds: “By the time she got to around 12 I was beginning to feel uncomfortable. So I broke the truth to her in a coffee shop, which was a lot more traumatic than I thought it would be. I thought she’d think it was funny but she was genuinely disappointed in me. I’ll never forget her little face, I feel terrible, she was so shocked. She had it in her head I was the same age as her friends’ parents and suddenly I wasn’t and that rocked her.”

Kaye has even tried to hide her age from her Loose Women colleagues. She added: “They all think I’m absolutely pathetic. Nadia [Sawalha] stole my driving licence at one point. Inside I was thinking, ‘I’ve got to be a good sport about this’, but I struggled to smile.”

Kaye said the Loose Women ladies laugh about speculation of a feud between them ( 
Image:
Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Loose Women ‘feud’

In recent times, there has been rumours of a feud among the Loose Women pannelists, though Kaye brushed off the speculation in July this year. Speaking to the Mirror, she said: “I do get fed up that almost always we will be asked whether we b*tch about each other. I’m just waiting for Alan Shearer and Gary Lineker to be asked the same question because they just never are. When we are asked about feuds, we think it is funny. It is certainly not a viper’s nest.”

Kaye added: “The one thing that I can guarantee when I go to the Loose Women, regardless of the line-up of women, regardless of the topics, at some point in that day, I will have a real belly laugh. And I don’t know how many other people can say that about their working life. I’m really delighted to say, hand on heart at some point in the day, we will be creasing ourselves, which is a lovely thing.”

Sharing an insight into their close bond, Kaye said: “I did a press trip to Jamaica 20 years ago with Carol McGiffin, who was hilarious, and I have a photo of her fully clothed, swigging champagne and throwing herself backwards into a swimming pool at 2am. Yeah, that is pretty standard [with Carol]. Linda Robson and Denise Welsh are both fans of Magic Mike, and I often end up in bed naked with Nadia Sawalha after a night out.

“That’s routine for us – she’s too lazy to go home and I sleep naked… I’m not changing for anyone. So we’ve had countless nights where we’ve been worse for wear and tumbled into the same bed together. I see more of some of the presenters than others, but I love to see them all on a Loose Women night out.”