BBC sports presenter Clare Balding has opened up about her home life with wife Alice Arnold, admitting she hates being alone and will rush to their neighbours’ house if Alice leaves her
Legendary sports broadcaster Clare Balding has made a frank admission about her marriage to wife Alice Arnold, revealing intimate details about their domestic routine.
The 54 year old ranks amongst the BBC’s most dependable and valued presenters, fronting programmes ranging from the Grand National to Countryfile.
She’s set to grace television screens tonight (Wednesday, October 8) as a participant in the first series of Celebrity Traitors alongside stars including Alan Carr, Stephen Fry, Jonathan Ross and Kate Garraway.
However, despite appearing composed and unflappable when the cameras roll, she becomes rather anxious when left alone at home.
Speaking on the Stick to Rugby podcast, Clare revealed to host Lawrence Dallaglio: “If Alice leaves me at home for 10 seconds, I go next door because I don’t like being on my own. So I’m down to Giles and Rosie’s three doors down within 10 seconds.”
Clare and her wife Alice live together in Chiswick, amongst London’s most exclusive and sought-after neighbourhoods in the south-west of the capital.
She revealed to local publication ChiswickW4: “I used to live in Putney and when we decided to move in together, Alice said: ‘we can live anywhere you want, as long as it’s Chiswick.’ So that was it really.”
Clare’s never genuinely by herself, mind you, as she and Alice are proud cat-parents to two pedigree British Blues, Eric and Button.
The pair previously owned a beloved Tibetan terrier called Archie, though he tragically passed away in 2020, creating “a dog-shaped hole” in their world, Clare shared with The Times. Before they welcome their next pup, Alice and Clare are considering a move to the countryside – a decision that will make it slightly more challenging for Clare to visit their neighbours when Alice is out.
Clare is set to experience a different kind of isolation as she embarks on a ‘complete digital detox’ in the Celebrity Traitors house.
She said: “We’ve got to connect with each other, talk to each other and how do you work out who to trust? That’s different from who you like. Who you like is easier, but who you trust is really hard.”
Clare revealed a concerning health scare that she noticed while reviewing some of her past television work.
While watching a clip of herself presenting the Olympia International Horse Show back in December 2008, she spotted an unexpected lump on her neck.
Upon returning home that Christmas, a family member encouraged her to have the lump examined by a doctor.
Clare recalled: “It was an odd one because I hadn’t really noticed feeling any different and I was (presenting) show-jumping at Christmas when it was at Olympia and I recorded an opening link and I was watching it back on the monitor as I was about to go live, and I’m looking at the monitor and you know that if you don’t really look at yourself in the mirror, you don’t really notice anything?”.
“I was looking at the monitor and I saw this big lump on my neck… like a big lump and I thought that’s really weird. And I felt it and I was like ‘where has that come from?'”.
Clare promptly sought medical attention, and tests confirmed she had thyroid cancer. Despite her diagnosis, Clare was adamant that her treatment would not disrupt her hectic broadcasting timetable.
The subsequent year, she underwent radioactive iodine therapy, which she later revealed had been successful with no indications of the cancer spreading.