There aren’t many people who can make a career out of eating cake and still look that good doing it, but Dame Prue Leith is one of them.
At 85, the Great British Bake Off judge is as sharp and colourful as ever: known for her bold glasses, bright jackets and unapologetic love of good food and good wine.
While she might be synonymous with indulgence, Leith insists she’s as down-to-earth about her lifestyle as they come.
She said, sipping a pint glass of English breakfast tea, as she spoke to The Times: “I eat well, I sleep well and I love well. In fact, I’m happy.”
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The celebrity chef is fronting this year’s Big Knit campaign with Age UK, the charity drive that sees those tiny woolly hats pop up on Innocent smoothie bottles each winter. The campaign raises funds to help older people live well. It’s something Leith says she’s passionate about, especially as she approaches her 86th birthday. She credits her energy to good genes, plenty of rest, and a big appetite for life.
But while she’s known for celebrating food, it turns out the Bake Off icon has also dabbled in one of the biggest health trends around: weight loss jabs, and it didn’t go to plan.
She admitted: “I did try it," speaking about the weight loss injection Mounjaro.
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Leith added: “I took it for two months, lost my appetite completely and didn’t shed an ounce. Nothing. Every day, I got on the scales and I still weighed exactly the same as before. I hated the bloody thing and I was tired all the time, presumably because I wasn’t eating. John said I looked thinner, which I think means old and scraggy round the face. And it’s expensive. As soon as I could, I stopped. It was terrible for me.”
Leith says her husband, retired fashion designer John Playfair, had a completely different experience. She said: “He hardly drinks now and I’m a great boozer…I have two or three glasses of wine every night and he’ll only have half a glass, which he probably won’t finish. It’s a pity.”
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True to form, Leith doesn’t dwell on the negatives. Instead, she’s throwing herself into promoting her upcoming book, Being Old and Learning to Love It, a collection of essays reflecting on love, grief, work and getting older.
She noted: “It’s very personal”, explaining how the book covers ‘the hilarity of old age’.
Ben Williams