'Start life on your own': Clodagh McKenna shares why she's glad she waited to get married
The broadcaster has some advice she'd like all women to consider before making a commitment
Broadcaster Clodagh McKenna met her husband, Harry Herbert, in 2017. The couple got married on August 14, 2021, when Clodagh was 46 and Harry aged 62.
Henry's father was Lord Porchester, the 7th Earl of Carnarvon, and the wedding took place at Harry's ancestral home, Highclere Castle.
Now aged 51, Clodagh reveals that although Harry is "the most amazing person I've ever met in my life," she's glad she waited to get married. She delves into the reasons why, and implores other women to do the same before making such a big commitment.
Appearing on Gabby Logan's Life at The Midpoint podcast, Clodagh says of Harry, "Thank God I married him, because he's so kind and he is my biggest life supporter, and I feel incredibly blessed."
However, she explains that there's something women should establish before getting wed. "It's important to become comfortable with who you are with or without a partner," she says, adding, "You have to be comfortable with who you are on your own."
When people become confident in their own skin, she believes that marriage and anything else "is extra."
"We got married when I was in my 40s, we met in my 40s and a lot of people say to me, 'Why didn't you marry before?'" she says.
The author and TV chef explains that her decision to wait for marriage was partly influenced by her upbringing. "I grew up in a household in Ireland, and remember the day when the laws changed and my mother was allowed to work," she explains.
Clodagh adds that when she was a child, a woman who was married wasn't allowed to have a job. "It was against the law as a female," she says.
Recalling what was expected from a married woman, she says, "You had to stay at home and manage the family and the house, be a good wife."
She remembers that "the minute the law changed," her mum went out to get a job. Afterwards, her mum instilled the message, "Always earn your own money, always be independent, don't let anything stand in your way."
"I grew up with that," she says, adding that because of this message, "I never thought about marriage or family as being something that I needed to do, or had to do."
Knowing just what she wanted from life, Clodagh shares, "I just wanted to write cookery books, I wanted to live in Italy, I wanted to live in New York - I wanted to just go and really live."
The freedom she had allowed her to achieve these dreams without having anyone else, or a marriage to consider.
By the time Clodagh was 12, her mum was making up for lost time, and setting out to achieve what she'd been prevented from doing in her marriage.
"I was about 12, I have this real visual of her and she had worked all day in the office, and then she went on to get her law degree at night. And when she got that, she went on to study Latin," she recalls fondly.
