TV PRESENTER Kirsty Gallacher has opened up about her new beau Darren Clayton for the first time, revealing they met through mutual friends, married sports journalists Gabby and Kenny Logan.
The TV presenter, 48, revealed she was “really happy” after meeting the former rugby ace and businessman, 38, last autumn.
4
Kirsty Gallacher has opened up about her new beau Darren Clayton for the first timeCredit: BackGrid
4
Kirsty on the golf course with Darren and her sons Oscar and Jude Credit: Instagram/gallacherkirsty
In an exclusive interview with The Sun on Sunday, the daughter of Scottish golf legend Bernard Gallacher revealed: “We are very happy. We both had similar stories — we are single parents and love to play golf.
“He takes care of me and tells me to take time off because I can be a workaholic. Gabby and Kenny, obviously love him.
“We played golf with them a week ago.”
The star, who has two sons with ex-husband Paul Sampson, who she split from in 2015, said: “I’m usually running around mad with the kids at their sport but my boyfriend is encouraging me to take a day off because I work Saturdays doing my radio show .
“Sometimes I go into myself a little, where I exhaust myself and try to be everything to my children.
“It works very well between us. Both my sons Oscar and Jude love him and he has a beautiful little girl. We are very satisfied. We’ve been together for almost a year.”
The couple met last fall at a fundraiser for the late rugby player Doddie Weir, who died in 2022 from motor neurone disease.
Kirsty revealed: “I joined Gabby and Kenny on this fundraising endurance challenge from Edinburgh to France and Darren was there.
“He’s a former rugby player and now has a sporting events company that he’s quite immersed in.
“I think it’s very impressive. Anyway, we talked and went on a date a week after we got back from Paris. It was very natural.
Kirsty Gallacher talks all things sport and exercise for Fabulous magazine
“It was wonderful and we were very private for almost a year and no one is famous and I didn’t want to talk about it.
“But then this summer I put a picture of us on Instagram. I don’t put a hell of a lot into it, but it just felt right.”
The Smooth Radio presenter, who inherited her love of golf from dad Bernard, who captained Europe’s Ryder Cup team in the 1990s, has enjoyed several romantic breaks in Devon, where Darren’s parents live.
She said: “It was wonderful. First we went for Christmas and celebrated the New Year there. We walked a lot and went to cozy pubs.
“Darren’s dad is obsessed with golf — which is priceless.
“We played together – we’re a golf-obsessed family.”
Before Darren, Kirsty was linked to former boxing champion Johnny Nelson and actor Laurence Fox, and last year she was seen on a date with comedian Paddy McGuinness.
She spoke candidly about her difficult divorce from her ex-husband of 14 years on friend Gabby’s Midpoint podcast.
At the time, she competed in the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and presented for Sky Sports.
In the interview, she said: “It was more than exhausting, emotionally, physically. I had a breakdown. I didn’t do well after that. I just kept going for so long.”
Kirsty, who quit her job as a GB News presenter in 2021 due to symptoms of tinnitus caused by a benign tumor in her ear, now has a Saturday show on Smooth Radio.
Located in leafy Surrey, she has always been dedicated to fitness and enjoys playing sports with her family in her spare time.
‘It’s very impressive’
She said: “When we were in Cornwall and Devon in the summer we all surfed, paddle boarded and went boating as much as possible.
“Of course, we’re all into golf.
“My boyfriend and I play golf regularly with my boys who are 17 and 14 years old.
“I think my youngest son would like to be a golfer and follow my dad.
We are very happy. We both had similar stories and we both love to play golf. He looks after me and tells me to have time off because I can be a workaholic
Kirsty Gallacher
“Also we all play paddle ball a lot. Gabby and I play a lot too.
“But we’re a very active family. It’s so nice that both of my kids are athletic because it would be weird if they weren’t.
“I know that if I feel a little sluggish, I have to exercise. I think I need that stimulation, I need the serotonin and endorphins buzzing around.
“I think it’s important for me and I think it’s always been the same for me. It’s what I’ve been doing for years – it keeps me in the dark.
“Now that the kids are back at school, I’ll get back to my weight training routine, which I enjoy.
4
Kirsty at an event in Dubai Credit: Getty
4
Kirsty on one of her National Rail journeys
“I feel like I’ve lost a bit of strength, but it’s good.
“I think it’s good to take a break from the norm.”
Kirsty also loves animals and likes to make wildlife documentaries alongside her sports work.
She said: “We have a lot of pets at home. Theo the turtle is beautiful and has the best life ever.
“I need serotonin”
“Then I have Bertie, a French bulldog, as well as a rescue cocker spaniel called Frank, who is from Battersea Dogs Home. I do a lot with that alms.
“Next I’d like to save some chickens. Darren keeps trying to stop me – he finds me looking at them online.”
Kirsty, who recorded an audio sports series for National Rail’s Days Out Guide, said: “I spent the whole summer traveling by train to Devon and Cornwall, and it was wonderful.
“There’s so much you can do when you’re not driving, and your vacation starts as soon as you sit down and look out the window.
“I’ve teamed up with National Rail to host an audio series of interviews with the great and the good from the world of sport, talking about fantastic British sports and sporting venues, encouraging as many people as possible to embark on a sporting discovery by train.”
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education