SARAH BEENY has revealed her 20-year marriage was hanging on by its “nails” after beating breast cancer.
The property expert, 51, admitted that she and artist husband Graham Swift even agreed they were still together only because of their four teenagers.
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Sarah Beeny reveals her marriage is ‘hanging by the nails’ following her battle with cancerCredit: PA
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Sarah admits Graham found it hard to live with her because she was ‘terrible’ to him ‘for the last few years’ Credit: Nicky Johnston/ Outline Productions
Sarah, who got the all clear six months ago after chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, admits Graham found it difficult to live with her because she had been “terrible” to him over the “last few years”.
Speaking about her trauma, Sarah said: “We’re holding on inside by our fingernails. I mean, it’s not easy, is it?
“Graham always said, ‘the day we have to work on our marriage, I’ll walk away.’
“And I said, ‘really?’ But I think he had to work on it to be honest.”
Sarah, who was diagnosed with cancer in August last year, opened up about her troubled family life with Gabby Logan on her podcast The Midpoint.
Sarah recalled a conversation the couple had in which they admitted neither wanted to live apart from their children – Billy, 19, Charlie, 17, Rafferty, 15, and Laurie, 13 – so Graham begged Sarah to be “prettier” according to him.
The Channel 4 and BBC presenter admitted: “I behaved particularly appallingly because in the last few years, to be honest, I’ve been a bit appalling at times.”
Of their chat, she added: “I was particularly horrified, he said, ‘you know the thing is, Sarah, you’re not ready to go away and have your kids half the time and neither am I, so let’s stay together.
“And we will stay together happily or unhappily, so what would you like it to be?”
“And I thought, oh, that’s pretty dark, isn’t it?
“He said ‘do you want to be happy or unhappy, because either way we’ll still live together’, so I said, ‘OK, then we’ll be happy, okay?’ he said, ‘what a good idea.
“Maybe you should be a little nicer?” I said, ‘yeah, fine, I will.’ So logical, right?”
Sarah last posted a smiling photo with Graham earlier this month as the pair posed to support brain tumor research charity Wear A Hat Day.
In the continuation of the podcast, Sarah admits that she has spoken at length about her marital problems with her older brother, Diccon, but her sibling is quick to point out that living with her must be difficult.
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Sarah recalled a conversation the couple had in which they admitted that neither wanted to live apart from their children
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Sarah was given the all clear six months ago after chemotherapy and a double mastectomy Credit: Nicky Johnston
Sarah added: “I called my brother … and said, ‘right, that’s it, Graham is so annoying, I think we’re going to split up’ and he listened to me for ages, yeah, yeah, yeah, he said, ‘I get it Sarah , it must be horrible to be married to him.
“The only thing I think could be worse is being married to you.” So I suggest you go and make peace! So everything is fine.”
Sarah and Graham met when she was just 18 after being set up on a blind date.
They moved from London to the Somerset area in 2018 to renovate their new home, a 220-acre sheep farm, which featured in her 2020 Channel 4 documentary New Life In The Country.
Sarah revealed last August that she was battling cancer.
She lost her mother Ann to the same disease at the age of 39 when she was only 10 years old. But in April she was able to announce that everything was clear to her.
But she revealed she doesn’t want it to define her – she even asked if she could leave it out of her book The Simple Life: How I Found Home, which was published in the summer.
She said: “I didn’t want to be Sarah-Beeny-who-had-cancer.
“And so I thought, oh my gosh, I’m writing this book and I actually asked the publishers if I could publish it and they said no, that’s really not going to work, don’t put it out. And I said ‘really, are you sure ?’
“My friends laugh about it, but they say my coping mechanism is to sweep everything under me and move on.”
Of her attitude, she explains: “I kind of liked to edit the good parts and I didn’t really think the cancer was a good part – so I thought I’d rather take it out. So when I was writing the book, I deliberately kept it to one chapter.”
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