Fern Britton’s New Life: From TV Star to Successful Author and Health Advocate in Cornwall

Fern Britton has undergone quite the life transformation since moving permanently into her Cornish holiday home in Padstow five years ago. 

Now, favouring a wholesome life by the sea, the TV presenter turned author, 67, spends her days writing novels and working out in her home gym, accompanied by her pet cats Dr Iain Mackerel and Barbara. 

Following the breakdown of her 20-year marriage in 2020, her life changed dramatically when her ex husband Phil Vickery abruptly cut all contact after the death of both her parents. 

Fern admitted to experiencing a ‘catalogue of difficulty’ in the events that followed but has now found peace within her new lifestyle and routine. 

After ‘getting her life back on track’ she is now a Sunday Times bestselling author and is an incredible 5 stone down after cutting out sugar from her diet and taking part in 6am gym classes. 

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Novels

Fern has long enjoyed storytelling, releasing her first novel New Beginnings 2011, two years after leaving This Morning.

But since Covid she has been prolific in her writing, penning Daughters Of Cornwall in 2020 and The Good Servant two years later, with the hotly-anticipated A Cornish Legacy set for release in June. 

The Sunday Times bestselling author recently took to Instagram to reveal the cover of her new book, which promises another historical adventure on the south-west coastline.

In a caption, Fern excitedly announced: ‘Hello everyone! I’m delighted to share the cover of my new novel, A Cornish Legacy, out in hardback, eBook and audio in June.

‘Enter Wilder Hoo House and discover its secrets!

‘Nestled against the rugged Atlantic coast of Cornwall comes a heart-warming story of new beginnings and finding home where you least expect it…

‘You can pre-order A Cornish Legacy with the link in my bio! Love, Fern. x #ACornishLegacy’

She was soon flooded by encouraging comments from fans of her 10 previous novels, with some gushing about the ‘beautiful’ cover and anticipating a ‘bestseller’.

Of her latest book, the star told Femail: ‘The headline is, “A woman who has lost everything is left a house that is falling down. Can they save each other?” I was telling a friend this the other day and she said, “That’s your life.” I went, “Oh yeah!”’ 

The latest effort comes after she penned The Older I Get…: How I Repowered My Life in November, detailing how she navigated the challenges that had come her way in recent years.

The book marked an opportunity to get a lot of her chest after a nightmare three-year spell which included the deaths of both her parents.

The TV star lost her mother Ruth in April 2018 before her dad Tony, an actor in films such as The Day Of The Jackal, also passed at the end of the following year. 

She said last year: ‘Looking back I was in a very bad place and gradually I started to pull myself out of it.’ 

Weight loss journey

Fern has also been moving on from hard times by working out in her home gym and showing off the incredible results on social media.

This week she finally revealed the two life-changing things she has done to lose five stone in weight.

The TV presenter has long been open about her weight struggles, having fluctuated between a size 22 and a size 12 over the years.

Fern, who insists she has lost weight ‘naturally’ and without any Ozempic, said all she has done is cut-out sugar from her diet and do 6am gym classes as well as couch to 5K.

She told Woman&Home magazine: ‘People often wonder when you’ve lost lots of weight whether you’ve done it naturally. And I can look at you and say, “Yes, I have”‘.

Fern reflected on the powerful moment she decided to take back control of her health.

She added: ‘I had my shoulder replacement 18 months ago, and two-and-a-half years ago, when I saw the surgeon, he said, “I’m going to totally replace your shoulder, I’ll see you in a year.” 

‘I thought, “I need to get my life back on track. I need to stop smoking, stop drinking, get eating under control and stop lying in bed feeling sorry for myself”. 

‘So I started the Couch to 5k, took about 80 per cent of the sugar out of my life and started to think about what I was eating, which I had never done before.’

Amid her new ‘fitness regime’, Fern looks to have changed one of her bedrooms into a home gym as a number of different weights sat on the floor in front of her. 

In a video from January, Fern revealed she was started a new fitness regime which includes running, cycling, walking and lifting weights. 

She said: ‘I’ve started running again and gone back to couch to 5K.

‘New year, new fitness regime. Later on in the year I’ll be walking a small leg of the south west coast parts which will take about a week to do. 

‘I’ll be meeting my friend, who will be doing the whole 360 miles of coast, but I’m in training doing some walks throughout the week and wearing a rucksack with some weight in it and wearing my boots to wear them in. 

‘I shall start running again, two or three times a week and I’m going to start cycling again and will do some weights to get my arms and shoulder a bit stronger again.’

Fern has had an amazing journey with her weight, undergoing a gastric band procedure back in 2006 which saw her go from a size 22 to 12 having shed five stone. 

She has continued to slim down since with her dedication to working out in her home gym, taking on the Couch to 5k challenge which led to her becoming a regular runner and cutting out one hugely-unhealthy habit.

She is also a fan of bike rides, yoga and long walks.

Following Couch to 5k, the author stuck to running three times a week for around 45 minutes each time. 

Once given the OK to lift weights again following a shoulder injury, the presenter said she was also keen to get back to the gym. 

To improve her diet, she began eating more protein and vegetables, choosing healthier options over unhealthy snacks. 

She acknowledged the benefit, saying previously: ‘I once again found the feeling of satiety. 

‘The thing in your brain that tells you that you are full. I’d been first class at overriding that for quite a while.’ 

Fern added: ‘If we can manage to consume a balanced diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins and healthy fats, while minimising processed foods, sugars and excessive salt, we’ll be doing ourselves a real favour in the long term.’ 

Late last year the presenter opened up about lockdown when some traumatic events led to her overhauling her lifestyle. 

Fern previously revealed she soon found herself struggling to find the point of getting out of bed and began smoking, drinking and eating badly.

The star then noticed the physical side effects starting to have an effect on her health as she realised she had gained weight and was having problems breathing.

She added: ‘Looking back I was in a very bad place and gradually I started to pull myself out of it.’

Fern even revealed that one night it all came to a head as she decided to quit smoking after too many cigarettes led to her pulling over mid car ride to throw up in a field.

She now has regular therapy sessions and is exercising again.

Family

Fern was left devastated after she and Phil broke up following 22 years of marriage in 2020, with ensuing Covid lockdowns only accentuating her loneliness.

The television presenter became divorced from the TV chef, 64, in 2020 after two decades together.

The split followed the deaths of Fern’s parents, which reportedly caused the pair to realise that they had to ‘follow their own paths’.

Now in a new interview, Fern has said that Phil stopped talking to her after her mum died. Previously they were reported to have maintained a ‘basic’ level of communication after they split.

In an interview with Yours magazine, Fern admitted: ‘He hasn’t spoken to me for six years now. As soon as my mum died, he stopped talking to me.’

A representative for Phil has been contacted by MailOnline for comment. 

The Celebrity Big Brother 2024 contestant insists she tries ‘very hard’ to not ‘bad-mouth’ Phil for the sake of their 23-year-old daughter Winnie.

Fern shares twin sons Harry and Jack, 31, and daughter Grace, 27, from her first marriage, to Clive Jones, and daughter Winnie with ex Phil. 

She said: ‘Winnie adores him. I’m not going to bad-mouth him in front of her; at least, I try very hard not to. I was the child of divorced parents and my mum never bad-mouthed my father.’

During an appearance on James Martin’s Saturday Kitchen recently Fern said that ‘life is good’ as being a single woman meant there was now nobody there to judge her. 

She revealed: ‘I can sit down in the morning and watch all the daytime television I like. No one’s going to judge me for it, I don’t have to get dressed up and made up.’

She went on: ‘I am my own boss now, which is great, in every sense, my life my work, everything, I’m my own boss and I’m enjoying that.’

The former This Morning star is now kept company by her two cats Barbara and Dr Iain Mackerel, posting loveable pics of the pair to her Instagram – whenever they can sit still, that is. 

In a recent snap, Dr Iain could be seen taking a morning nap after a busy night, stretching out on the sofa much to the delight of Fern’s Instagram followers.

She captioned the post: ‘Dr Iain Mackerel has been on a late shift and just come home for a hearty breakfast and snooze. He says Hi ! X’ 

Barbara meanwhile can often be spotted underneath the couch or by the fireplace, in what is clearly a very cosy environment at the Britton household. 

Last year Fern, who also shares twins Harry and Jack, 29, and Grace, 26, with first husband Clive Jones, admitted she ‘lost herself’ and struggled to cope after her divorce from Phil.

Speaking on Morning Live, Fern said: ‘The last seven years have been tricky. I lost my parents, I got divorced, the pandemic, and then I kind of lost myself.’

She continued: ‘I really wasn’t coping well with that stuff – I was eating too much, I wasn’t exercising. 

‘Not doing very well. And then I thought, I’ve really got to get the power back in me, and then I had the thought of this word – repowering.’

Opening up on her dating life, Fern added: ‘We’ve got the power. You look back and when you were younger, everything was fun. It was proper stuff – now it’s all swiping, and I hate it, and I’m not going to do that. 

‘It was such a fun time going to parties, and you were excited to meet strangers. I don’t want to meet strangers anymore, I don’t want to be invited to huge parties.’

Fern also receives regular visits from her daughters Winnie and Grace, heading to Looe for some lunch earlier this month and posting an adorable snap of them all together.

A few weeks prior, the happy trio were together once more and all flashed beaming smiles as they posed for a picture.