A NEW CHAPTER - 'I STILL BELIEVE IN ROMANCE AND MY HAPPILY-EVER-AFTER'

AFTER SPLITTING FROM HER LONG-TERM PARTNER, VANESSA FELTZ LOOKS TO THE FUTURE AS HER FAMILY RALLIES ROUND

- GEMMA McCARTNEY

Beaming from ear to ear, Vanessa Feltz proudly cradles her youngest grandchild as she settles down to take part in our glamorous photo shoot. The TV presenter’s daughter Saskia, 34, welcomed her second child, Cecily, last September, and it’s clear that Vanessa relishes her role as a doting grandmother.

As her four-year-old grandson Amiel, otherwise known as AJ, wanders past, she smiles as she tells us of the joy that spending time with the youngest members of her family brings her.

“I’m so lucky that I’ve got two daughters, two grandsons and two granddaughters,” says Vanessa, who is also mum to 37-year-old Allegra.

“Each daughter has very cleverly produced one of each [Allegra, a lawyer, is mum to Zeke, nine, and Neroli, seven]. And Cecily is an absolutely joyful baby, thank God. She’s jolly, sociable and nice-natured – she even puts herself to sleep, without anyone even having to do anything about it.

“And I’m very lucky, because I live not very far from all my grandbabies. They’re only 20 minutes maximum away in the car and I see them pretty much all the time, almost every day.”

It’s no secret the 61-year-old has had a difficult year and having her nearest and dearest close by has been a huge comfort to Vanessa since she split from her partner of 17 years, Ben Ofoedu, in January, after he admitted to cheating on her.

“We are a very close family and they definitely do form a network around me,” she says. “I do the same for them and it means you don’t have to be alone, which is very lucky because I wouldn’t like that very much. It means you’ve got the family on your side helping you and supporting you through.”