Family love keeps me going through it all

Broadcaster/author Judy Finnigan, talks to Rachel Borrill about her eyesight fears and depression.

VERY few people embrace the ageing process. We all have worries and fears what the future might bring us. For Judy Finnigan, the British broadcaster and Book Club Champion, her biggest fear is losing her eyesight.

“We have rotten eyesight in my family and my mum lost her’s to age-related macular degeneration in her 70s and there was nothing we could do about it,’’ she says.

“I saw what her blindness did to her. It completely robbed her of her confidence. To me that is the worst thing ageing could bring, to lose my eye-sight.’’

Now, age 64, Judy ensures she takes “enough vitamins’’ and has regular check-ups at her opticians to monitor her eye-sight. So far, she has had to have two operations, one to remove a cataract the other to mend a detached retina.

Although Judy is perhaps best known for presenting ITV’s This Morning programme alongside her husband, Richard Madeley, she now hopes to have a new career as an author, with the publication of her first novel Eloise.

In it, Judy describes in vivid detail the effects depression can have upon a family. A subject she freely admits she knows a lot about after suffering from severe post-natal depression following the birth of her fourth child, Chloe.

“When you are depressed I think it is incredibly difficult for the partner. A seriously depressed person is very hard to live with. There is no joy in their life, no appreciation of happiness.

“I had four lovely children, a good job, a smashing marriage but was as miserable as sin and felt suicidal a lot of the time. So that was very hard for Richard,’’ she explains.

Now, Judy says that she is aware of her triggers and has to “watch herself ’’ to make sure she keeps the depression and anxiety at bay.

“I am sensitive to it and become quite aware when things are beginning to get me down. Working too hard, anxiety about family, stress that kind of stuff,’’ she says.

Her rock throughout has been Richard, and they have just celebrated 26 years of marriage.

According to Richard, Judy is “my heart, if she wasn’t here it would remove all point to my life.’’

When I quote this statement to her, she begins to well-up. “Oh, gosh, that’s lovely. I am about to cry,’’ she admits.

Richard has also frequently revealed how important their sex life is in their marriage, describing it “as the bedrock of our relationship.’’ Not surprisingly, Judy agrees too.

“Sex, love, passion and affection are hugely important. When you get older, it possibly decreases in frequency, but it doesn’t mean it is any less important.

“We have always been — partly because of working together — very engaged with each other. We are always talking. You would never see us in a restaurant not speaking to each other. We have shared our lives so much so we have always got tonnes to discuss and talk about,’’ she says.

Since ‘retiring’ from TV in 2009, Judy says she feels much healthier and can now relax, enjoying spending time with her four grown-up children and getting excited about becoming a grandmother for the first time.

“The secret to my happiness is family love — 100%. A happy marriage is a wonderful thing, and to have healthy, happy children is also a wonderful thing and that is all that is important.”

¦ Eloise by Judy Finnigan is published by Little Brown price £16.99