Anna Richardson: Family Regrets and Misunderstood Identity

has candidly spoken of her regret over not starting a family, admitting the demands of building her successful TV career over the past three decades meant she 'forgot' to have children of her own.

Speaking on author Marisa Peer's new podcast, Your Mind, Your Rules, Anna, 55, admitted she often felt as though she had been on a 'hamster wheel' throughout her career.

She landed her big break in the mid-90s as a producer on The Big Breakfast before stepping in front of the camera to host 's Love Bites and the prime-time film series Big Screen.

The TV host admitted on Sunday's episode: 'The human cost of trying to do it all is just overwhelming. 

'Looking back, I recognise that I was so busy on this hamster wheel of trying to make everything happen, trying to be successful and trying to succeed in broadcasting, that I forgot to have children and build my family.

'I'm feeling that now at 55. I look back and think, 'Oh, I kind of missed that boat, and now what do I do?' So now I'm having to, in a more flexible way, ask myself how else I can build my family and what that might look like.'

Marisa, who is the author of six books, including her latest Your Mind, Your Rules, replied: 'There are many, many ways to have a child in your life and be in their life. I believe we can have it all but it requires balance and planning and a certainty that you are worth it and can work to obtain it.'

'Exactly,' Anna said in reply. 'And we've got to remember lots of people choose not to have children. Lots of people aren't able to have children. 

'Again, think of people within the LGBTQ community who may not wish to have children. There are different ways of building your family.'

Anna has been in a relationship with charity boss Simon Marks since 2022, following her split from partner of seven years, comedian Sue Perkins, a year earlier. 

Before that, she was in an 18-year relationship with TV producer Charles Martin.

Opening up to Marisa about her romantic past, she confessed that Simon brought a sense of calm to her life that her previous partners hadn't.

She said: 'You met my previous partners. They were amazing, extraordinary people who I'm very good friends with. They were alpha, very successful, very combative. And it was exciting to be in relationships with those people because it was sort of fire meets fire. 

'But now I've found a man who's actually very calm, very quiet, exceedingly kind, and it's actually what I need. Kindness is so underrated, isn't it?'

Anna, who describes herself as 'sexually fluid', also touched on her frustration at being constantly labelled because of her relationships with both men and women, insisting: 'The most common question is, 'Are you lesbian or are you straight? What are you?' 

'And I say, 'I'm Anna, I'm me.' It's interesting with labels because people say, 'Well, are you gay, straight, lesbian, bisexual, trans, what are you?' But for me, labels are unhelpful. Your biggest label is your name. I am Anna, and I've loved men and I've loved women.'

Speaking of her enduring bond with Sue, she added: 'Could you fall in love with the person? I fell in love with that person and she is still one of the most significant people in my life.'

Marisa agreed that labels can be 'limiting', before asking Anna which label she would most like to remove and which one she would choose to add instead.

She answered: 'The answer would be the same. I would take off that I'm difficult and I would stick on that I'm difficult.'