Clare Balding reveals past marriage proposal from soldier before finding love with wife Alice Arnold
ok.co.ukBBC sports presenter Clare Balding has revealed that she was once proposed to by a soldier boyfriend before she met her wife, Alice Arnold.The 63 year old, who is currently leading the coverage of the Paris Olympics, tied the knot with former Radio 4 broadcaster Alice, 62, in 2015 after being in a civil partnership since 2006.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Clare shared that she had a "one very serious" relationship with an Army man for "two or three years" before meeting Alice.
He even popped the question before going on a tour of duty. She recalled: "I thought, 'He's only asking me because he thinks he's in danger'." She knew she didn't want to say yes and told him: "And I said, 'Look, that's a lovely thing to say but ask me again when you come back'." When he returned, he didn't ask her again, which Clare admitted was a relief: "When he came back, he didn't ask me again, and I thought, 'Thank God'." The moment she fell in love with a woman, she said, was "When I first fell in love with a woman, it was completely different." Clare, a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, confessed that coming out to her family wasn't easy.
She explained: "I think my mother was very concerned it would affect my work. I'd been to the Sydney Olympics in 2000. "But until you own it, it's not legitimate.That is why I say to people, 'Don't hide the thing that makes you happiest.
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