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Has Claudia Winkleman Left Radio 2: Why Did Claudia Winkleman Quit Radio 2? Claudia Winkleman has announced she will leave her Saturday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 next year and she is leaving because of her age and to spend more time with her children.
Has Claudia Winkleman Left Radio 2: Why Did Claudia Winkleman quit Radio 2?
Earlier this month, Claudia announced that she’s leaving her Radio 2 Saturday morning slot after three years so that she can spend more time with her children.
She will hand over the 10:00 to 13:00 slot to comedian Romesh Ranganathan in April.
She says the show wasn’t an automatic draw and she was only persuaded by watching the Dutch series. ‘I’m quite a risk-averse,’ she reflects.
She was very happy just in Strictly world. Maybe it was turning 50 because after watching the Dutch series she said yes almost instantly. Maybe it was also her kids getting older, so she could leave home more easily.’ said Claudia.
Her children – Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 12, from her 23-year marriage to film producer Kris Thykier – also lie at the root of another big decision. Claudia cites her children growing up ‘inordinately fast’ and her desire to ‘follow them around at home’ before they leave.
She describes her unexpected decision as ‘slow growing. She felt heartbroken about leaving, but when it got into my head, the idea of having two weekend mornings to pad around, I just couldn’t let it go.’
Her Saturdays when she does Radio 2 and Strictly are intense, just in terms of the adrenaline. It’s non-stop. She says she is not complaining – she is the luckiest person in the world. But the idea that she could meet my girlfriends on a Friday night, and relax on Saturday, it was so seductive.’
The first series of The Traitors (pictured) drew in more than 4.7 million viewers, becoming the surprise hit of the year
Claudia jokes that she still thinks her entire television career is secretly funded by her father Barry and former journalist mother Eve Pollard.
She says ‘In my twenties, I’d wake up and say, ‘Today I’m going to look like a cowgirl,’ then the next day I’d want to be a Goth. That’s exhausting. Now I wear the same Zara jeans and T-shirt. I’ve got four of each, I’ve had them for 15 years with the same Doctor Marten boots and I don’t think about it.’
Some of this is down to age, she believes. ‘I loved turning 50,’ she says of her milestone birthday in January 2022.
She can talk about different togs of duvets and try to make Jamie Oliver’s get-ahead gravy, which she’s tried every year and has never managed. She said she didn’t love her twenties, she was angsty.
She says when you’re 50 you know who your friends are, and you can do what you want.’
There is also the undeniable fact of life’s great ticking clock, which Claudia admits focuses the mind. ‘she’ll never forget something a midwife told her when she went for her check-up when she was pregnant with her second child.
Her son was going to be three and she was worried it would be too much, maybe it wasn’t the right time,’ she recalls. ‘She was looked in the eye and was told, ‘Claudia, the train has left the station.’
‘That’s how she feels about age. What did we think was going to happen? she is going to be 52, and then there’ll be maybe one or two holidays, laughing with girlfriends, being with the kids.
Claudia and film producer husband of 23 years Kris Thykier (pictured together) share three children – Jake, 20, Matilda, 17, and Arthur, 12
‘We’ll be 60 faster than it takes for me to click my fingers, 70 if we’re really lucky. And, if some miracle happens, maybe even older, but we mustn’t take it for granted, so how brilliant that we’re here,’ Claudia said.
She will hand over the 10:00 to 13:00 slot to comedian Romesh Ranganathan in April.
