“Everything’s Better Than the First Time” — Carol Kirkwood, 63, Breaks Silence on Tumultuous 18-Year Marriage and Drops Retirement Bombshell!

“I Feel Everything is Better than the First Time” – Carol Kirkwood, 63, BBC broadcasting veteran, Opens Up about her Stormy first Marriage to Jimmy Kirkwood after 18 years together – and reveals retirement plans and future with New partner Steve Randall, 13 years her junior!

BBC star Carol Kirkwood has given fans an insight into her life off-screen as she admitted that there is “no such thing as the perfect romance”. The weather presenter, who has been a fixture at the BBC for 27 years, married police officer Steve, 49, in December 2023.

Nine years before that, she divorced her first husband, property developer Jimmy Kirkwood. The pair split in 2008 after 18 years of marriage, with the divorce finalised in 2012. Speaking to the Daily Mirror, the BBC veteran, 63, confessed: “I feel sad when relationships break down. I was married before, and we got divorced, and it’s always sad when that happens. But, of course, there isn’t such a thing, I don’t think, as the perfect romance – where you’re never going to fall out or have cross words. Of course you are, that’s life.” However, she also recently made a cheeky comment when asked about her second marriage, telling one newspaper: “Love is lovelier the second time around. No disrespect to my first husband, but this is better.”

Despite there being a 13-year age gap between her and her new beau, Carol and Steve got hitched in an “intimate” wedding ceremony in Buckinghamshire almost two years ago.

Speaking about her special day, she added: “The wedding was the most perfect day. Storm Gerrit was raging outside and we didn’t even notice.

“It was about us getting married rather than having a big, fancy wedding. We had no guests and wrote our own vows. When you are older, you know more what you want.”

The TV star also spoke about the age gap in her relationship, stating it makes no difference to her. She told Saga Magazine: “Steve is 50 this year. Other people’s opinions about an age gap don’t matter – I don’t feel he is younger than me.”

Explaining how she met him, Carol added that she believes it was fate. She said: “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.”

Carol shared that she is soon looking to retire, with her and Steve hoping for a new life abroad. The published author shared: “We fell in love with Majorca, which is where we went so I could research my fifth novel, Meet Me at Sunset, about a woman running away from a shattered love affair.

“Steve and I plan to escape and travel for some time when we retire, perhaps in a year or two. We’ll travel in a camper van or get in the car, cross over to France and then just drive.”