Top 75 Susanna Reid Quotes

Normally, I have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the festive spirit. I’m not a Scrooge. But when I was growing up, Christmas didn’t begin until mid-December.

I may look like I’m in control on TV, but underneath I’m trying to hold it together like we all are. Here’s to busy mums everywhere and the power to, occasionally, say ‘enough’.

When my first grey hairs appeared in my 30s, a senior BBC producer quietly took me aside and told me to cover them up. It was the first time I realised being youthful was a job requirement – looking older was not allowed.

I have never subscribed to the idea that it’s necessary to greet someone in the office by wrapping arms and touching backs.

On ‘Good Morning Britain’ I regularly re-wear outfits, and my wardrobe at home is the same few jumpers and jeans.

Students like my son, who has a place at university which is dependent on getting the right grades, must place his fate in the hands of two groups of people: teachers and a faceless team at Ofqual, the exam regulator.

Reality show TV star is a familiar job, and to knock it would be the height of hypocrisy for someone like me who has made their career on television.

Ageing is a blessing, and I feel every inch of 46.

For many women, adopting a traditional full-time domestic role would be unthinkable. But if being at home and looking after your husband works for you, I’m behind you.

I won’t hold back from sharing my opinions. But I’ll also be fair, taking on the topics of the day with a positive, no-nonsense attitude – and a great sense of fun.

I have never thought of myself as a gym bunny, but I just couldn’t get into working out at home.

During the war, women without nylons drew lines up the backs of their legs to give the illusion of silk stockings. Painting over grey hair with spray-on root touch-up – or even dark eyeshadow – is the Covid-19 equivalent.

Let’s face it, staying at home has its appeal. The modern family set-up with both parents working is fraught with challenges most of us will have experienced.

I would never say no at a red-carpet event. It’s part of the job. Without the viewers we are nothing, so a simple picture is hardly too much to ask.

The Victoria’s Secret fashion shows? I’ve always detested them. Not only because they made me feel insanely jealous of the utter magnificence of the models, but also because I couldn’t stop myself falling for the fantasy.

I’m all for making ourselves look good – as long as we feel good, too. Feeling under pressure to look the same means we’ve gone too far.

Behind the glossy hair and smart dresses you see on TV, this is who I am: a busy working mum like any other.

Don’t ask me why, but it always feels intrusive to look at other people’s junk.

For women, 50 has too long been seen as a symbolic cut-off point. A roadblock where your energy, vitality and career prospects were once expected to come to a screeching halt.

Too few nurses puts patients at risk. It also risks the mental and physical health of the nurses we do have, as the fewer staff there are on a ward, the harder it gets to pick up the pieces.

As a studious schoolgirl, I’d go back into the classroom every autumn brimming with enthusiasm.

Although we have to do a tight three-point turn when leaving work, I pride myself on my driving skills. I’m not intimidated by a tight spot of parallel parking, passed my driving test first time and was always the designated driver in my group of friends.

Talking about weight at all – even your own – has become increasingly tricky, especially if you dare to say that you would quite like to lose a few pounds.

Fiona Bruce isn’t some token middle-aged woman at the BBC. Alongside her, at 52, my former running partner Sophie Raworth is a familiar face on our screens, with enough energy to run the scorching desert challenge, Marathon des Sables, to celebrate her 50th.

Sleep deprivation and I are old friends. I’ve been familiar with it for almost 20 years, ever since I started getting up at ridiculous o’clock for breakfast TV.

Hugging has been a social hot potato for a while. On the one hand, we are increasingly aware of touch being good for our wellbeing, and on the other, some workplace tribunals have deemed touching inappropriate.

But when you work long hours, you never want your children to think they’re not a priority – so something else in the schedule has to give instead. Inevitably, the thing to go is time for yourself.

Losing weight should be done for health, not because a star claims to have a magic product or formula.

Cats are notoriously fickle. Regular feeding at a different house might be enough to tempt them away, insensitive to your own feelings of attachment.

My interest in self-help began when I was a child in the Seventies. My mum had a book she would consult regularly: ‘Passages’ by Gail Sheehy, which deals with the challenging stages of growing up.

I would love to own a dog, but somehow a dog is just not me. I’ve always had the distinct impression that they are less like a pet and more like another child.

The possibility of sending an innocent person to their death is a reason why I’m against the death penalty.

I’m a proud ex-BBC employee, but its flip-flop over presenter Naga Munchetty – first censured for sharing her experience of racism, then absolved when the decision caused uproar – doesn’t look good.

After chatting happily to people all morning in my professional life, I prefer to spend quiet nights in, punctuated only by the occasional grunted demand for food from a passing teenager.

When it comes to the great either/or of pet ownership, I am definitely a cat person.

I’ve lived in my house for 20 years and, while I love to travel, I don’t dream of moving abroad. Give me home comforts and shops, schools and friends’ welcoming kitchens within walking distance any day.

Apparently, there are all sorts of reasons why your hair might stop growing, including split ends, breakage and overuse of heated styling tools – in my case, it might be a combination of all three!

My work means that a dressy outfit and full face of make-up is everyday wear, even in lockdown. But it’s such a relief to take it all off after the show and know there’s no prospect of having to find a second wind at the other end of the day, putting the armour back on again.

Instead of respecting nurses, we have started blaming them for problems they don’t create. And, in doing so, we are making everyone less safe.

I always make my bed when I get up so it looks fresh and inviting, although the rest of the house might, at times, be a tip.

Emma Thompson and her husband, Greg Wise, have become citizens of Venice. I’m not sure whether it’s just laziness, or fear of one of life’s most stressful events – moving house – but you won’t budge me from South London.

When I was little I adored the windy beaches of Ventor and the dinosaur cliffs at Alum Bay. I was thrilled to take the cable car, and I coveted the layers of coloured sand in tiny jars in the gift shop.

Sometimes, the best way to handle all the nasty comments is to send a snappy reply to one particularly foul one. Trolls need to know that if they are rude, they may be made an example of.

I get at least six hours each night, meaning I am generally in bed at 9pm. Then, to top up my sleep, I take a nap as soon as I get home from the studio each morning at 9.30am. Although my sleep is broken into two chunks, this makes up a seven-hour total that keeps me going.

On average, a prisoner in the U.S. spends around ten years on Death Row before execution.

I won’t be cycling to work any time soon. It’s too dark when I leave home at 4am, there’s too many speeding drivers and helmet hair wouldn’t look good on air. But I still want to do it.

I do think the glitz of reality stars and social media is changing our society. At 20, I barely wore make-up and rarely visited a hairdresser.

I don’t credit diet pills for my weight loss. I would never flog any ‘weight-loss’ supplement.

Marathon runner Sophie Raworth is always trying to get me to put my running shoes back on, but I can’t match her for fitness.

The truth is women have a tendency to say ‘yes’ even when we’re at tipping point. The challenge is saying ‘enough’.

There is only one Piers Morgan. But no one is completely irreplaceable, no matter who they are.

Women telling men to step out of roles so they can step into them isn’t going to endear people to feminism. Neither is telling women they are betraying feminism by enjoying the pleasures of being a traditional housewife.

Women of my generation aren’t becoming more conservative as we get older. On the contrary, we’re less concerned about what people think.

The thing is, I am addicted to social media. I can while away hours scrolling through posts and pictures, wallowing in the details of other people’s lives, catching up on news, giggling at funny videos, all the while oblivious to a sunny afternoon or the washing up.

But for women – and, yes, this is strictly applicable to females – grey hair is still a rarity, especially if you’re in the public eye.

When you work in TV you have to develop a thick skin, and I have certainly grown used to criticism.

I don’t even have an iron. Yes, it means I can’t own crisp, white shirts – but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. My clothes simply emerge pristine from the dryer. Jeans don’t crease and, for work, stretchy Lycra holds its shape.