Anthea Turner doesn’t want a flashy wedding with fiancé Mark Armstrong.
The 65-year-old TV presenter has delayed getting hitched to her 59-year-old businessman lover multiple times after Mark popped the question during a romantic getaway to Italy in 2019 – just months after they met in a London nightclub in July that year.
And, reflecting on her wedding with former husband Grant Bovey in 2000, which saw the couple pose with Cadbury’s Snowflake bars in a promotional tie-in, Anthea admitted she wants something completely different for her third trip down the aisle.
Anthea – who was also married to Radio 1 DJ Peter Powell from 1990 to 1998 – told Vanessa Feltz on her Channel 5 show: “It was so extravagant, really when I think back now, I do remember thinking ‘this is not me, I don’t really want it to be so big, this was nowhere near what I wanted;.
“But I sort of got bamboozled into the whole thing, and it got bigger and bigger and bigger, and then of course, a chocolate bar was stuffed in my face, and then that was the end of everything.
“But I also think the tanker has turned around with these big flash weddings that we don’t think ‘oh how amazing now’, it’s like when people have big flash cars, it’s like, people with flashiness is actually going out.”
Anthea previously insisted the special occasion will now take place “in the UK”.
Anthea – who lives with Mark – told Bella magazine: “We haven’t sorted out the wedding – we have to get our act together.
“I don’t want the faff of organising anything abroad, so it will be in the UK.
“God knows how many bridesmaids I’m going to have!”
Anthea and Grant initially split in 2012 due his infidelity, and after reconciling they split for good in 2013 and were legally separated in 2015.
The star has now found her happily ever after with Mark and feels “really lucky” to be with a man who is very romantic and always trying to surprise her.
Anthea said: “I’m really lucky that Mark is a real romantic.
“For Easter, he woke me up in the morning and said, ‘Get ready for an Easter egg hunt around the house,’ you’re never too old for an egg hunt!
“I love stuff like that. It’s spontaneous and fun. I feel like a lucky lady.”
