'If everything ended tomorrow career wise, it's okay' - Lorraine Kelly on the 'contentment' being a grandmother has given her
Lorraine has opened up on the ‘second chance’ her granddaughter, Billie, has given her and how it’s shifted her perspective
Lorraine Kelly has been on our TV for over 40 years, interviewing some of the biggest names in showbusiness and becoming a national treasure - but nothing that has come before compares to where she’s at now.
Speaking on Pete Wicks’ Man Made podcast, Lorraine declared, "I have experienced more contentment in the past couple of years than my whole life."
Lorraine’s mindset is, in big part, thanks to becoming a grandmother to Billie in August 2024. Not only is she loving being nana - "Oh my God, every time she calls me nana, it's wonderful" - it’s become something of a "second chance" to do what she couldn’t do with her own daughter, Rosie, as a busy working mum.
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"If everything ended tomorrow career wise, it's okay, it's okay", Lorraine shared.
"I'll go away and I would always do something. And the joy that this wee thing [Billie] gives you, because it is almost like getting a second chance".
She continued, "I do feel I have got terrible mother guilt about when Rosie was tiny. When I was at work, I would be stressing that I'm not spending enough time with her."
It’s easy for Lorraine to feel more contentment now she’s had one of the most established profiles on television, but she still remembers the fear that stuck with her for most of her career. The fear that prompted her to keep working and keep chasing the dream.
"It would have been really nice if somebody had said, actually in 40 years, you're still gonna be doing it. Because every single time that that contract was up, you get the washing machine stomach, you get the dredge, you get the fear, you get all the worry.
"Especially after I'd had my daughter, and you're worried about just existing… you could never quite relax, or take it for granted, which I never do."
Despite being a mainstay of TV and radio, Lorraine surprisingly shared that she still lacks confidence and security, telling Pete, "There's still imposter syndrome. Even now. Sometimes actually more now."
However, Billie, and becoming a grandmother has helped shift the perspective somewhat.
"Even now, I don't know what's gonna happen. Nobody does… But I think since I've become a granny, I absolutely have been able to live in the now, because she does.
"So, I can take 15 minutes to look at a puddle, and it's fantastic. And I will blow bubbles for hours, and the first bubble is as exciting for her, and for me, as the last, the 109th bubble."
"It's so good. This baby has taught me so much, because I now can appreciate so much more.
"All the things that I wanted to do with my own daughter, with Rosie, when she was little, I couldn't really, because I was working so hard."
