Gabby Logan shares secret to 23 year marriage to rugby star Kenny Logan

TV presenter Gabby Logan has opened up astir menopause, ageism and however she’s navigating mediate property to bask a amended beingness – arsenic good arsenic her caller book, The Midpoint Plan

When TV presenter Gabby Logan started to person encephalon fog successful her precocious forties, struggling to callback words oregon names connected unrecorded TV, she enactment it down to tiredness. “I couldn’t rather get that sanction oregon articulate successful the mode I had antecedently been capable to, truthful I was concerned, but it coincided with lockdown and not doing telly for a while,” she says. “I retrieve feeling rather tense going backmost to unrecorded telly.”

The erstwhile gymnast soon realised it was a grounds of perimenopause and promptly started HRT, which, she says, has balanced her hormones. Gabby, 51, has present written The Midpoint Plan, inspired by her eponymous podcast, successful which she shares a wealthiness of proposal from impermanent experts connected the amusement astir each aspects of reaching mediate age, from intelligence wellness and hormones to midlife crises, enactment and the value of exercise.

In her book, she explores the difficulties of entering mediate age, stopping abbreviated of saying she had her ain midlife meltdown. But she admits, “There were decidedly points of feeling, ‘This is simply a immense maelstrom of things going on. I’m not definite however I’m equipped to navigate this.’” That melting cookware of feelings reached a highest during lockdown truthful successful 2021, erstwhile Gabby experienced some carnal changes and anxiousness astir Covid, she started her podcast. And she says talking to different good known faces astir their midlife challenges – including histrion Jill Halfpenny and DJ Adele Roberts – decidedly helped her ain intelligence health.

Gabby says she doesn’t interest astir increasing older oregon ageism successful the world of unrecorded TV. “Nowadays, it’s a precise antithetic spot for older women connected TV than it was 20 oregon 30 years ago. I’m fortunate to beryllium successful a clip wherever it’s a antithetic landscape. I deliberation it would beryllium precise hard to beryllium ageist against a pistillate connected TV present due to the fact that of women who’ve gone before.”

She cites Sir David Attenborough and Dame Mary Berry arsenic examples of older TV icons who are inactive working, and however radical worth their wisdom, acquisition and warmth. She notes that the scenery of sexism has changed, too. “It’s the thought that women person got a support beingness which we don’t spot connected TV arsenic much,” she says.

Gabby, who’s been joined to erstwhile rugby prima Kenny Logan for 23 years, and has 19-year-old twins Reuben and Lois, besides says successful her publication that you’re ne'er excessively aged to effort caller things. “You don’t ever cognize what those challenges are going to be,” she says. “Even saying yes to a amusement similar Freeze The Fear With Wim Hof [she took portion successful a BBC world amusement successful which celebrities instrumentality connected challenges successful sub-zero temperatures] was thing different.”

So what person been the biggest hurdles successful the midpoint of her life? “Getting utilized to the thought of changes is rather hard erstwhile you archetypal acquisition immoderate of the symptoms of perimenopause but don’t cognize what it is,” she reflects. “Family situations changing are hard. I speech astir an bare nest successful the book, and children leaving location and your changing dynamic successful the household and the imaginable changing dynamic with your concern and however you woody with that, however you look into the aboriginal and get your caput astir that. Your state and your clip go much abundant.”

The Midpoint Plan by Gabby Logan (Piatkus, £22) is retired now