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They have spent the last few months fuelling rumours that their working relationship has blossomed into a full-on romance.
And now, just a week after they cosied up to each other on another red carpet, Helen Skelton has told how she’s so close to Morning Live co-host Gethin Jones that they often ‘forget’ they’re on the air.
Ms Skelton, 42, who split from ex-husband Richie Myler in 2022, admitted she and Jones are ‘such good mates’ that it can become ‘tricky’ when they’re filming the BBC One show, alongside Michelle Ackerley.
‘I’ve been friends with Michelle and Gethin for 25 years. Geth was on Blue Peter before me, so we’ve always crossed paths, and Michelle and I were flatmates when we lived in London,’ she told Prima Magazine.
‘We’re all in the same frame of mind. The tricky bit is, we’re such good mates that sometimes we forget we’re on air.
‘I see my work friends as much as I do my real friends.’
Ms Skelton and Jones, 47, have done little to downplay speculation that they are now a couple, after posing together on the red carpet at the Pride of Britain Awards in October, and then again last month at the Royal Television Society Awards.
Their long-time friendship is thought to have become romantic earlier this year, and despite reports that it had then ‘cooled’, it seems that it may still be going strong.
Ms Skelton, who is mother to children Ernie, 10, Louis, eight, and three-year-old Elsie, with her ex-husband, said she has recently abandoned her mum guilt after realising her children like that she works.
‘I used to stress about coming back to work after having my kids, but now they love what I do,’ she said,
‘My eldest is gutted every year that I can’t do Strictly.
‘Every now and again, they say something that just brings me to my knees – like when one of them recently said to someone, ‘My mum’s Helen Skelton.’
‘They also think I’m completely embarrassing.’
She said that she is not planning to expand her family as she doesn’t want to spread herself too thinly and wants to be as available as possible to the children she has.
‘I would have had more kids until this stage [of motherhood] – I really would. I really like it,’ she said.
‘The no sleeping and no routine – working in telly is really good training for that.
‘But I’m really conscious I’m at that stage where they all really want me, and I want to be there for them all.’
Ms Skelton said that turning 40 has made her embrace the ‘chaotic’ nature of her life and accepts that her house and car are never going to be spotless.
‘Something I’ve really embraced since turning 40 is that sense of acceptance: “We are who we are.” That’s my mantra,’ she said.
‘My house is chaos, my car’s a tip, I’m probably going to be late.
‘I’ll turn up to a kid’s birthday party without the present wrapped and when my friends come to dinner, they bring their own food. I’m chaotic, but I’m great fun!’
Read the full interview in the January issue of Prima, on sale today.
