Fern Britton takes swipe at ex-husband Phil Vickery in rare TV appearance – after admitting their divorce left her struggling to cope

Fern Britton has seemingly taken a swipe at ex-husband Phil Vickery as she declared she was now ‘her own boss’ following the split.

The former This Morning presenter, 67, split from the TV chef, 63, in 2020 after 22 years of marriage, and was said to have been left devastated when he was pictured kissing her friend Lorraine Stanton in 2022. 

During an appearance on James Martin‘s Saturday Kitchen Fern, who shares daughter Winnie, 22, with her ex, said that ‘life is good’ being a single woman meant there was now nobody there to judge her.

‘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’.

Last month 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.

Fern Britton, 67, has seemingly taken a swipe at ex-husband Phil Vickery as she declared she was now 'her own boss' following the split
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Fern Britton, 67, has seemingly taken a swipe at ex-husband Phil Vickery as she declared she was now ‘her own boss’ following the split

The former This Morning presenter, 67, split from the TV chef, 63, in 2020 after 22 years of marriage, and was said to have been left devastated when he was pictured kissing her friend Lorraine Stanton in 2022 (pictured 2007)
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The former This Morning presenter, 67, split from the TV chef, 63, in 2020 after 22 years of marriage, and was said to have been left devastated when he was pictured kissing her friend Lorraine Stanton in 2022 (pictured 2007)

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Opening up on her dating life as she adapts to ‘modern norms,’ Fern recalled the tough past seven years, in which she also suffered the loss of both her parents just before the Coronavirus pandemic.

The TV star lost her mother Ruth in April 2018 before her dad Tony Britton also passed at the end of the following year.

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.’

Meanwhile in March Phil Vickery shared a cryptic post seemingly referring to his spit from Fern as he took to Instagram with a message about ‘messing up something good’.

During an appearance on James Martin 's Saturday Kitchen Fern said that 'life is good' being a single woman meant there was now nobody there to judge her
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View gallery

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

She said: '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'
+8
View gallery

She said: ‘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' (pictured together 2017)
+8
View gallery

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’ (pictured together 2017)

The post read: ‘A lot of people mess up something good, by looking for something better, to end up with something worse.’

Fern announced she was ending her 20-year marriage to celebrity chef Phil, back in January 2020 but said that they will ‘always share a great friendship’.

And during her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, she confessed she has no intention of falling in love again. 

Speaking to Louis Walsh she said: ‘I’m ready to slow down, like you, I’ve been working solidly since I was 20.’

Louis agrees, saying: ‘you realise what life is, and realise why haven’t I done this before, why didn’t I go there, why didn’t I do that?’

‘Fern, if you pick the right person you’ll have great fun, you might fall in love’

Fern replied: ‘I don’t want to fall in love again…’

Fern Britton admits she ‘lost herself’ during the last seven years

Last month Fern, who also share 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
+8
View gallery

Last month Fern, who also share 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

It comes after she revealed she has no intention of falling in love during her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, and told Louis Walsh: 'I don't want to fall in love again¿'
+8
View gallery

It comes after she revealed she has no intention of falling in love during her appearance on Celebrity Big Brother, and told Louis Walsh: ‘I don’t want to fall in love again…’

Before entering the CBB house, Ferne said she had no interest in finding love again.

She told Weekend Magazine: ‘I’m not dating. There’s an awful lot I’d like to know about myself first and to know that I am ready to be looking, otherwise you might turn up as another kind of hysterical mess, saying, ”He left me and it was awful!”

‘Not that Phil did leave me. You don’t want that kind of conversation with a date who is just looking for someone nice to have dinner with. But I never want to live with anybody again. I like my own space.’

An insider said of the split at the time: ‘Phil and Lorraine kissing on the street like this will be heartbreaking for poor Fern. They look like teenagers in love and that will be just so hurtful for her.’

‘They are two of the most important people in her life and them behaving this way in public will feel like a betrayal.’

Fern previously spoke about how she wished she could’ve ‘persevered’ at their marriage, during a new interview with Prima Magazine.

Fern said she ‘doesn’t want to be the poster girl for separate’, and explained that many couples experience their relationship coming to a natural end.

Reflecting on her tough but amicable split, she said: ‘This new chapter has come at the right time for me. I don’t want to be the poster girl for separation, though, because a lot of people go through the same thing.

‘Often, the children leave home and you look at each other and go, ‘Ah, where do we go from here?’ I only wish I was the sort of person who could have persevered through that, but I couldn’t,’ she explained.

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