BBC Breakfast's Carol Kirkwood left in tears off-camera over personal struggle

BBC weather presenter Carol Kirkwood was left in tears off-camera as she battled with a personal struggle. The 63-year-old has been a regular face on TV screens since 1997 when she joined BBC Breakfast.

In 2008 Carol found her 18-year marriage to Scottish property developer Jimmy Kirkwood breaking down. Despite the split, which Carol says wasn't dramatic, she had to remain "smiling Carol" on screen, she says. It means the star would find herself having a "good cry" in between segments. Speaking to Candis, she said: "I'd still have to be smiling Carol on-screen.

"I'd come off-air - we broadcast from the Blue Peter gardens in those days - go to the Ladies, have a good cry, and then reapply my eye make-up before stepping in front of the cameras again.

"In a funny way, though, it helped with the healing process. I put my grief into a compartment that I kept separate from my work, otherwise I'd have ended up in a puddle of tears."

Carol says her work "kept her going" during her divorce. Although she confesses she had a "public face" and a "private face" while navigating the relationship breakdown.

Carol remarried in 2023, tying the knot with serving police officer Steve Randall. She previously revealed she thinks she is "punching" with Steve.

She told the PA news agency that her partner was "very romantic and very generous" and a "lovely man". Initially meeting as friends, Carol detailed how it was "nice" getting to know Steve and dubbed him "kind".

While speaking to The Times, she was asked how he felt about moving into her home. She said: "I offered to sell my home so we could buy a place together, but he's happy living here. He's a keeper. He's a very good cook and tidy as well, tidier than I am."

She says meeting Steve was a "sliding doors moment" admitting that neither of them wanted to be at the party that brought them together. Speaking to Saga, she said: "Meeting my husband Steve was fate.

"We were at a function neither of us wanted to go to. It was a Sliding Doors moment - if I hadn't gone, we would never have met. We chatted, he gave me his number, and ages later, we met for coffee."

Carol says she was "happily single" when they met. She admits she felt like she needed to "find herself" after the breakdown of her marriage.

And while the pair had discussed marrying, it still came as a "shock" when Steve got down on one knee during a riverbank picnic near to their Berkshire home.

The couple tied the knot at Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire. Carol describes the day as "perfect" despite Storm Gerrit raging through the ceremony. The couple both wrote their own vows and didn't have guests during the ceremony.