BBC Olympics presenter Clare Balding's shoplifting shame and cancer

The 2024 Olympic Games are here, with another fortnight full of exciting sporting action ahead of us.

Viewers in the UK will be tuning in to watch all the big moments from the Games in Paris on the BBC, with the broadcaster’s coverage being led by the experienced presenting trio of Clare Balding, Mark Chapman and Gabby Logan.

Balding is one of the nation’s most respected and recognisable hosts, having presented shows across the BBC, Channel 4 and BT Sport and fronted huge sporting events like the Grand National, Commonwealth Games and Wimbledon. Her work on the 2012 London Olympics saw her popularity soar further as she was elevated to national treasure status by many.

Her popularity with viewers has seen the spotlight cast over her life away from the cameras, however, with her personal life and relationships making headlines over the years.

Here’s everything you need to know about Balding’s life outside of the studio, from her fears over revealing her sexuality to the shoplifting shame that has haunted her for decades.

Famous wife and family rift over sexuality

Balding is a lesbian and met her wife, broadcaster Alice Arnold, in 1999 when they were both working for the BBC. At first, the pair were just good friends but started dating in 2002, when Balding’s sexuality was made public by a national newspaper.

The couple then entered into a civil partnership in 2006 before tying the knot in a private ceremony in 2015 following the legalisation of gay marriage in the UK. Their marriage was then back-dated to 2006.

Recalling their first meeting, Balding said she noticed Arnold at a BBC show, but did not know who she was at the time. “I saw her and thought ‘Oh, she’s really interesting and rather beautiful’,” she said. “We started chatting and she’s very funny. We were friends for at least two years.”

Describing her wife as “fiercely loyal”, the 53-year-old added: “She would protect me and it’s an incredible quality to have. It’s like having your own little guard dog – it’s amazing.’

The BBC Sport presenter had previously dated men and was even proposed to by one of her former boyfriends. However, she turned it down and had no regrets about it, as she revealed he went on to “behave appallingly”.

“I had a few boyfriends, not like loads. But I had one very serious boyfriend for two or three years,” she said. “He asked me to marry him and he was in the Army and he was going off. And I thought ‘he’s only asking me because he thinks he’s in danger and, according to romantic films, I’m meant to say yes at this point’.

“I knew I didn’t want to. I said ‘Look, that’s a lovely thing to say but ask me again when you come back’. When he came back he didn’t ask me again, and I thought ”Thank God”. I thought ‘I don’t trust you and I’ll never trust you’ – and funnily enough I was absolutely spot on as his ex-wife told me not that long ago.”

She added: “‘That relationship ended not very well with him behaving appallingly. I think I was damaged by that, but that doesn’t make you gay. I just think when I first fell in love with a woman it was completely different.”

Balding’s parents knew that she was a lesbian before her sexuality was made public in 2002, but the presenter had not yet told her grandmother. When she opened up to her, however, the response was devastating.

Appearing on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, she recalled the conversation, telling presenter Kirsty Young: “I said ‘Grandma, I need to talk to you’ and she said ‘Yes I should think you do’. I said ‘Have you seen the paper?’ and she said ‘Yes and I think it’s disgusting’.

“I said ‘What do you mean? The invasion of my privacy or my lifestyle choice’ and she said ‘Both’ and I didn’t talk to her for about six months after that which was pretty difficult.”

Balding later made the surprise discovery that she was the great-granddaughter of MP Sir Malcolm Bullock, whose sexuality had to be kept hidden because homosexuality was illegal in Britain during his lifetime.

Cancer battle

In 2009, Balding revealed she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, having noticed a lump on her throat while watching herself on TV. Symptoms of the illness include a lump in the neck, a sore throat and difficulty swallowing that does not get better.

The TV presenter underwent radioactive iodine treatment to halt the spread of the disease, having had a cyst, her thyroid gland and a lymph node removed. While she feared the potential impacts of the illness on her voice, she received the all-clear at the end of 2010.

“I had to have a little operation just before Christmas to take out a nasty little lymph node and there was a worry that I might have to have more treatment,” she revealed

“But I had a lovely letter from my oncologist just after Christmas saying, ‘Hurrah, no more treatment’, so I’m very happy about that. 2011 is going to be a good one.”

Shoplifting shame

She may be one of the most universally liked presenters on TV, but Balding is still haunted by the “awful” memories of being caught shoplifting while at school.

Appearing on Gyles Brandreth’s Rosebud podcast, she revealed: ““I got into a lot of trouble when I was young. When I first went off to boarding school, I think I felt an enormous pressure to be one of the crowd.

“So I think I was very susceptible to peer pressure, so getting in with the ‘in-gang’ required doing quite daring things, one of which was shoplifting. And of course, I got caught, and I got suspended at only the beginning of my second year at school.”

Balding added: “I remember that being so shameful, because also when I rang home my parents weren’t there. So Vicky, who was my father’s terrifying secretary – the scariest woman…think of all those films. She came to get me.

“That was absolutely horrifying and the shame of it… I thought I was going to be expelled. So that was awful.”

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