Angela Rippon is the oldest contestant to date on Strictly Come Dancing, and fans are wondering who her parter is and if she has kids.
The journalist, newsreader, writer and presenter is set to celebrate her 79th birthday next month (October). And following her pairing with Kai Widdrington on the Strictly launch show, she will be hoping to impress the judges and score more points than her fellow Strictly 2023 contestants in a bid to remain in the competition for as long as possible.
Speaking about her reasons for taking part in the show, Angela, who is ambassador for the Royal Academy of Dance’s Silver Swan programme, which aims to get older people back into dance, said, "I love dance and I’ve been promoting dance as a way of keeping strong, fit and agile and balanced, so I suppose I wanted to do the show because of that and to prove that dance can help you, in so many ways, no matter what your age."
"It would be lovely to win. But if I'm honest with myself, I think that is probably an ambition too far!" she added.
We look at all you need to know about Angela's life off camera...
Who is Angela Rippon's partner?
Angela Rippon isn't thought to have a partner. The star admitted back in March in an interview with Prima that although she had experienced long-term relationships since her divorce from ex-husband Christopher Dare, she chose to keep them private. She explained, "I was married for 25 years and when we were parting, Christopher told me, 'I got fed up of people coming to our house all the time'. It made me realise that when you do a job that's public-facing, you have to respect the privacy of your partner. Hardly anybody – beyond my very close circle of friends – would know who my partners have been over the past several years."
She admitted in 2015 to MailOnline, that she was "very happy being single" and added, "I suppose, if I'm honest, when your heart is broken it's painful and I don't want to go there again.”
Angela and Christopher were teenage sweethearts who reportedly met at a YMCA dance, they went on to marry and they lived together on the edge of the moorlands of Dartmoor. The pair split in 1989 but Angela didn't announce the break up for another year, by which point Christopher was now living with another woman, a fellow divorcee, called Judy.
Angela is said to have a 'good relationship' with them now, she told Modern & Mature, "I don't think it did because it wasn't an acrimonious split. It was a stress, of course it was. It was a very stressful period for all sorts of reasons. My immediate feeling was, 'Oh God, I've failed at this'. But in fact, he and I are still good friends. I talk to him on the phone a couple of times a month. We email each other. He lives in Spain now with his partner, with Judy. We exchange cards at birthdays and Christmas. Judy kind of updates me on what they're doing with their home down in Spain."
Does Angela Rippon have kids?
Angela Rippon doesn't have kids, she has never had children but she has a close relationship with her godson and her two 'honorary goddaughters'.
Her godchildren are the son and daughters of two of her closest friends. Speaking about having other people's children in her life, she previously told MailOnline,
"My mother couldn't have other children after me and I think my father would have liked a son. Maybe he bestowed on me qualities he would have on a son - that sense of independence.' When they both died, it was a big jolt. 'A friend said: "You're like me now, Ange, an orphan." But I have a wonderful circle of friends and I've never felt lonely."
"Life is one big compromise - we can't all have everything we want, you have to deal with what's handed to you. What has been handed to me is the joy of seeing my godchildren grow into wonderful young people.
"I am very, very proud of them. They told me they would look after me when I needed it. I thought that was rather wonderful."
In other Strictly news there's Who is favourite to win Strictly 2023? and in other reality TV news you might be wondering Who is on Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins 2023? or where is First Dates filmed?
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