Begin Again with Davina McCall Prue Leith: Leaving Bake Off & Falling In Love At 70
Feb 26, 2026
Prue Leith, restaurateur, broadcaster and author famed for cookery schools and campaigning, talks about bold reinvention. She explains why she left The Great British Bake Off. She recalls falling in love again in her seventies, a 13-year secret relationship, and adopting her daughter. She reflects on ageing, sexism in kitchens, growing up in apartheid South Africa, and why colour and risk matter.
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Leaving Bake Off To Reclaim Summers
- Prue Leith left The Great British Bake Off after nine years because filming from April to August ate all her European-holiday time.
- She valued the show and friends there but chose freedom to take summer breaks and do other projects like her ITV morning show.
Falling In Love At Seventy
- Prue met her second husband John at a set-up dinner when she was 70 and he was 64, and they bonded over matching tastes in art and travel.
- Their early dates included walking dogs, haggis breakfast and Prue commandeering the pan to sear Dexter fillet steaks.
Ageing As A Joyful Chapter
- Prue argues ageing can be joyful and hilarious rather than only tragic, and she wrote Being Old to capture that.
- Her book mixes rants and affectionate stories, including finding humour in her mother's long senility.
