Dame Prue Leith has said she ‘hasn’t got much longer’ left in a frank admission about her age as she leans on beloved husband John Playfair for support.

The Great British Bake Off judge, 85, admitted that she is not as sprightly as she once was and ‘pretty close’ to needing a carer to help her busy schedule. 

Thankfully it’s her beloved husband, 77, who she wed in 2016, that is on hand to help and Prue said she wants to cherish every moment she has left with with him. 

Speaking on the Holly Rubenstein on The Travel Diaries she said: ‘I haven’t got much longer, I’m 85, I want to spend as much time as I can with him.’

‘And so, if we are filming abroad, or like next week, we’re going to New York, because I’ve got to publicise the American baking show,’ 

‘Then I’m now old enough for my agent to say “I’m sorry, but she has to ring her husband, because she’s 85, she needs someone to carry the bags” she doesn’t quite say “she needs a carer” but it’s pretty close.’ 

Praising John she gushed: ‘One of the wonderful things about him is that he is totally without ego, he doesn’t feel threatened by the fact that I have a higher profile than he does,’ 

‘When I introduce him [to people] he always just says “I’m the handbag carrier, I’m her chauffeur'”‘. 

Last year Prue and John  shared the details of the start of their relationship in a sweet moment during their joint appearance on Loose Women. 

The chef, who was married to her first husband nearly 30 years before his death in 2002, reveals she bolted from their first meeting at a dinner party.

Prue told how she was invited to a dinner party at a friend’s house, but when she got there were two men and two women there, leaving her feeling like a gooseberry.

The TV personality said she made her excuses to leave her friend’s dinner as quickly as she could and didn’t anticipate what would happen next.

Prue revealed that the following day, John  turned up on her doorstep as he admitted he instantly ‘knew she was the one’.   

The couple were quizzed on how they met by the panel and John playfully joked it was on the dating app, Tinder.

Revealing the real story, Prue said: ‘No it was boring we met in a friend’s house. I was coming back from Yorkshire and she said I need to get to this dinner party so I went with her and there were two guys and two girls there with champagne… 

‘It was an obvious set up and he was there and it was obvious what it was, I just wanted to leave. And then the next day John turned up on my doorstep.

John sweetly added: ‘I new she was the one straight away’, while Prue quipped:’ ‘I paid him to say that.’

Prue also said that her husband is the inspiration for some of her eye-catching outfits: ‘Colour is influenced by you, we’ve been together for 12 years. I ask for John’s advice and he always says no it’s not enough bigger earrings or more colour.

‘He [John] pushes me further. It’s great because most women who hit 50 thing they have to wear grey and I think you need colour.’

When asked about their Valentine’s Day plans, John coyly said he ‘couldn’t tell them about it’.

Prue previously spoke out about the 13-year affair she had with her late first husband, Rayne Kruger.

She revealed how their long marriage started out as an affair, after she fell for her mother’s best friend’s husband. 

Speaking about the decision to speak out in her memoir, the TV star said she had no desire to be ‘discreet’ about her personal life, adding: ‘If there are things in your life you’re not exactly proud of, but they would be interesting to the reader, you should try to tackle them.

Speaking to Kate Thornton on the White Wine Question Time podcast, Prue said: ‘I thought, ‘You know, to skip it, when Rayne was the most important person in my life… how could I not tell his whole story?’ So I did.’

Prue worked with Rayne while he was married to the late South African actress Nan Munro – Prue’s mother’s best friend. 

‘I never asked him to leave his wife because I was very happy,’ she explained of their affair.

‘I had none of the duties of life and all of the pleasures of somebody who loved me. I wasn’t pressing for marriage. We did have 13 secret years and nobody ever guessed because we were discreet.’

‘But it was easier in a way because he was a family friend, chairman of my company, and he had helped me enormously and everyone knew we were great friends.’

Eventually Rayne left his wife, who was 17 years his senior, to start a life and a family with Prue. They have a son Danny and daughter, Li-Da.

The couple remained good friends with Nan who forgave them for the affair, with Prue calling her ‘an extraordinary woman.’