News

Sara Cox is kicking off the longest ever Children In Need challenge today – here we look back at her relationship history, including two husbands and three kids

View 5 Images

Radio legend Sara Cox kicks off the longest ever Children In Need challenge today – walking 135 miles, the equivalent of five marathons in just five days.

The BBC Radio 2 drivetime host, who originally hails from Bolton, will trek across four counties – Northumberland, Durham, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire – to complete the Great North Marathon Challenge and raise thousands for charity.

She’lll run, jog, and walk through sweeping moorland, steep ridges, and the rolling hills of northern England, with the support of towns, villages, and Radio 2 listeners, along the way.

But as her advertising executive husband Ben Cyzer, who she shares two children with, prepares to cheer her on, we look back on her love life up to meeting Ben and how many kids she’s got.

READ MORE: BBC Morning Live’s Gethin Jones says ‘I was worried’ as he’s left concerned for co-star

View 5 Images

Last year, Sara told fans how she had once been in a ‘very unhappy’ relationship when she first moved to London back in the mid Nineties- with an ex-boyfriend who she later discovered had actually stole money from her.

Speaking to the Times, Sara – who had moved to the Big Smoke to pursue a career in the music industry – shared: “I was in a very unhappy relationship when I first moved to London. I lived in Arnos Grove in Enfield, north London, in a converted church.

“I was with this person who turned out to be horrible and he stole from me. I felt emotionally stranded there. Then I binned him off and the MTV [from 1997] and Big Breakfast [from 1998] years began.”

View 5 Images

View 5 Images

Though she has never revealed who the horrible ex was, it clearly didn’t stop her finding love as in October 2001 she married first husband, DJ Jon Carter, now 55.

And it seems Sara is a bit of a fan of secret wedding as her and Jon tied the knot in a small ceremony at a North London registry office, reportedly followed by a small party for friends in a remote Irish hotel.

Together they welcomed Sara’s first child – her eldest daughter Lola, now 21 – in June 2004. But the former couple split a year later in 2005 after a series of rows.

Sara was linked to now husband Ben within weeks of her marriage to Jon falling apart, although at the time they were just good friends. But by 2006, things were hotting up between the pair and they eventually fell in love.

View 5 Images

Sharing the lovely story of how they met, Sara said: “My most memorable Glastonbury Festival has got to be 2005. I met a very handsome, dashing, very, very funny, lovely person called Ben.

“And a few years later I married him. So it was the first time I met my now husband, father of two of my children. All thanks to Glastonbury.” She’s also hinted one of her children may have even been conceived at Worthy Farm as they worn a few months later in the following March.

Though they were living together by 2007, the pair didn’t actually tie the knot until June 2013. This was despite Sara once telling the Mirror that although she was happy and in love, she had no plans to walk down the aisle again.

At the time she said: “I am never getting married. Maybe when we are 60 I might get married and have a little party at the old folks’ home – but no.”

But of course she did walk down the aisle again – and it was another secret wedding for Sara – who only revealed the happy news on Twitter, formerly known as X, afterwards by tweeting a picture of herself in a wedding dress alongside her new husband.

By that point, the couple were already parents to son Isaac, who was born in 2008 and is now 17, and daughter Renee, who was born in 2010 and is 15. The family live together in north London, as well as having a horse called Nelly who is stabled in nearby Hertfordshire.

The couple also pranked fans in 2022 by getting ‘re-married’ at Camp Bestival in a ‘manky’ wedding dress while holding a can of Stella. But Sara later revealed it just a joke they signed up for the day before as a bit of a laugh.

She shared: “I don’t think I made it very clear in that post – it’s just a joke thing that you do at Camp Bestival. I mean, look at what I’m wearing! It’s an inflatable church, the DJ was called Jesus. Next to the inflatable church was a little marquee that had all these old wedding dresses, like these really manky wedding dresses, because obviously it’s a festival. They’ve been worn by hundreds of people before.”

Animal lover Sara also has three dogs named Daisy, Dolly and Pip, two cats named Watson and Peggy, and two “quite posh” tortoises called Tom and Chally. She is now toying with the idea of buying some land and expanding her menagerie to include pigs and hens – and says husband Ben is on board.

She told the Mirror: “It’s always been a bit of a pipe dream, but I’d love to have a little smallholding at some point. My dad’s a farmer, he’s got a beef farm up north in Bolton. I’d have Nelly and I’d love a rescue pony, because I’m an ambassador for World Horse Welfare, who have ponies that can’t be ridden but are good to be pals. Plus a couple of little pigs.”

READ MORE: ‘Ninja’s Crispi airfryer transformed my everyday meals and now it’s £40 off for Black Friday’

A Place In The Sun presenter Jasmine Harman shares two children with her husband Jon but she has opened up on a “painful” time in her life

View 4 Images

A Place In The Sun presenter Jasmine Harman has opened up about the heartbreak she and her husband faced while trying to expand their family.

The 49-year-old TV star first joined the popular property programme in 2004 and has since appeared in over 200 episodes. Away from the screen, Jasmine is married to Jon Boast and the couple share two children together.

Speaking to The Sun’s Fabulous magazine, Jasmine spoke candidly about the emotional challenges of parenting, loss, and gratitude as she reflected on how her own upbringing has shaped her approach to motherhood.

“Every decision you make as a parent brings doubt,” Jasmine admitted. “But I remind myself that children turn out as they turn out, shaped by guidance, experience and their own personalities.”

Now a devoted mum to Joy and Albion, both conceived via IVF, Jasmine says she is conscious of giving her children the childhood she never had.

View 4 Images

“I had such a different childhood from that of my kids. I’m the eldest of seven and, growing up, our family had very little. I spoil my children more than I should and it feels good to give them the things I didn’t have.”

Despite her sunny on-screen presence, Jasmine’s journey to motherhood has not been without pain. She revealed that in 2017, she and Jon, a cameraman whom she met while filming A Place In The Sun, tried for a third baby, only for their hopes to be crushed when the embryo failed to implant.

“Sadly, when we tried for a third baby in 2017, our embryo didn’t implant,” she said. “This came so soon after losing Jon’s sister, Jo, who died suddenly at 40 from an unexplained heart problem.

View 4 Images

“We’d hoped that welcoming a new baby might have lifted the family and brought fresh joy after such a painful time, but instead we were reminded how fragile and precious life can be.”

Jasmine, who joined A Place In The Sun when it launched in 2004, has become one of the show’s longest-serving presenters, helping countless British house hunters find their dream homes abroad.

Away from the cameras, though, she’s open about the realities of parenting and maintaining balance amid busy family life.

“All parents fumble through,” she reflected. “Every day is the first time you have experienced that stage of raising a child — right now, challenges range from siblings falling out to screen-time boundaries.

View 4 Images

“I always apologise if I lose control of my emotions, as I want to model how they should react in or after stressful situations. I just hope my kids see me as present, understanding and kind, and that they remember childhood as a time of love, exploration and adventure.”

The TV star is set to launch her own new series, Jasmine’s Renovation In The Sun. The programme will document exactly how Jasmine and her family purchased a rundown Spanish villa and made it their dream home.