Kate Thornton says 'sex is bottom of my agenda' as she shares 10-year transformation
Kate Thornton was a regular face on the 90s party scene with fellow showbiz icons such as Denise Van Outen and Louise Redknapp. But these days she's more likely to be dropping her son off at a party and going home for a nice early night.
The former X-Factor and Loose Women star told Bella magazine that she’s left her It Girl persona behind: “Feeling sexy isn't a drive for me. After the menopause came and mugged me of myself, sex has been bottom of my agenda.”
She added: “Getting my sanity back has been my reason for all that I do. I spend a lot of time trying to look after myself, not because I want to look great, but because I don't want to feel like a bag of c*** any more. I feel like I'm in really good shape and I'm happy with where I'm at now."
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Kate, now 53, says she’s “in really good shape” these days, after struggling at first with the effects of the menopause. She has embraced Pilates to help with her fitness and flexibility, as well as diving into the cold water swimming trend.
She explains: “I was in a hormonal dip and friends like Jenny Powell and Tamzin Outhwaite were feeling amazing after it.” She jokes that she has become a “Dryrobe w****r who’s part of a group of pals that start their working their day with a chilly dip three or four times a week.
Alongside her TV career, Kate has joined the growing army of celebs who have started their own podcast. Her weekly White Wine Question Time show has seen everyone from Amanda Holden to Princess Eugenie answering question about their life and work.
Kate chose to reduce her involvement in Loose Women following the birth of her son Ben, and she started training as a therapist when her television career 'hit the kerb'.
Speaking on White Wine Question Time, the former BBC Radio 2 presenter said: "There are a lot of us walking this parenting life on our own and it isn't easy, and to pretend it is, does a disservice to all of the others that are walking alongside us.
"But also, you don't want to be seen as complaining, especially when we have the privilege of a well-paid job and blessed with opportunities and all of that good stuff.
"But I think it's a really necessary conversation because we heap so much pressure on ourselves to do it all and it isn't always attainable and I do think eventually you can have it all.”
Kate, who split from Ben’s dad, superstar DJ Darren Emerson, in 2011, added that seeing her son grow into a young man has been a source of sadness, as well as pride.
She said: "I'm no longer invited to the sidelines, it's just drop me off and leave, my son's 17, he's going to be driving himself to his own football matches soon, and it's gone.
“Now on a Sunday morning when I'm driving past those playing fields full of parents and kids, I literally swallow tears, it's a grief, I miss it so much, and the work's still there. I took the risk of stepping back and the day my son finished his last GCSE, I was offered the show that I do now."