Curse of Blue Peter as Helen Skelton becomes latest star to see marriage rocked by splits, affairs and tragic deaths
LIKE many successful presenters, Helen Skelton rose to fame as one of the clean-cut stars on the wholesome children's show Blue Peter.
Now she's the latest host to succumb to the Blue Peter curse.
The presenter has split from her husband of nine years Richie Myler just four months after welcoming their third child.
Helen joins four other presenters whose marriages went down the pan after appearing on the BBC1 hit and another two who tragically lost their spouses.
The long-running series has spanned generations but so has the curse which has ended numerous romantic relationships.
We dive into the splintered relationships which happened behind the scenes during and after the show.
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Janet Ellis
When Janet, 66, was cast as a Blue Peter presenter in April 1983, she was already married to her first husband Robin Bextor, 68.
The pair were childhood sweethearts who met when she was just 16 and tied the knot when Janet turned 21.
They welcomed daughter Sophie in 1979 and by the early 1980s, shortly after Janet joined the show, they had separated.
Janet left the show in 1987, when she was expecting son Jackson by partner John Leach, who she married a year later.
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It was claimed she had been fired for being pregnant and unmarried, but has since said she was fully supported in the show.
Devastatingly, John was diagnosed with cancer of the tonsils which turned into secondary cancer that they were told was terminal in 2017.
In 2021 after 35 years together, John passed away and left behind a love letter for his wife to be read at his memorial.
She said: "I had to wait 35 years and him dying to get a love letter, then it was a really big one, really big and public."
Yvette Fielding
Yvette, 53, made headlines as the youngest ever presenter of Blue Peter after landing the gig at the tender age of 18, in 1987.
Six years later she married Barry Sweeny, father of her eldest child, William.
Little is known about their marriage, or when they divorced.
The presenter spent five years on the show before moving to kids show What's Up Doc?
She met her second husband, TV director Karl Beattie, in 1999, and within six weeks, he proposed live on BBC's City Hospital.
Within six months they were married and they share a daughter, Mary, 23.
Anthea Turner
Anthea, 61, joined Blue Peter in 1992 by which time she was two years into her marriage with Peter Powell, 71.
After four years on the show, she bid it farewell, and another four years later she split from Peter.
The same year as her legal paperwork went through she moved in with Grant Bovey, 61, but things were far from smooth sailing.
He was already married to Della Chapman, and reconciled with her after moving in with Anthea, before returning to the TV presenter.
They married in 2000 and Anthea was keen to have a family with her new beau.
But the drama for Anthea didn't end there and in 2012 she split from Grant over an extramarital affair.
They reconciled briefly before splitting again in 2013 after she discovered he was wooing interior designer Zoe de Mallet Morgan - 24 at the time - behind her back.
They finally divorced in 2015 and Anthea has retained a close relationship with Grant's daughter Lily from his first marriage.
Katy Hill
Katy, 51, joined the long-running children's show in 1995 while she was with childhood sweetheart Andrew Frampton, 55.
The pair finally married in 1999, with the presenter quipping she was one of few women who could actually wear white to be married as a devout Christian.
Sadly, it only lasted two years before they split and subsequently divorced.
They had been together for a decade before their wedding and at the time of their split insisted there was no third party.
Katy left the series in 2000 after five years on screen and has since found love with Live & Kicking presenter Trey Farley, 46.
The pair married in 2004 and share a daughter Kaya Sky, 15, and a son Akira, 14.
Simon Thomas
Simon, 49, spent six years on the show from 1999 to 2005 before going on to present Sky Sports.
In 2005, he married Gemma and later they had a son called Ethan.
Devastatingly on November 24 2017, she died just three days after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia - an aggressive cancer of the white blood cells.
She was only 40 years old at the time of her death and her son was just 13.
Speaking about his wife's death in 2018 on This Morning, he said: "I think I woke up every one [in the hospital] as I screamed. I screamed to God saying: 'Why have you left my son without my mum?'
"I got home [afterwards] and grabbed him and looked deep into his brown eyes and said: 'They couldn't make mummy better'."
Simon has since found love with Derrina Jebb, 31, who he married in July 2021 at Norwich Cathedral.
Sarah Greene
Back in 1980 Sarah Greene, 64, joined the presenting line-up of Blue Peter and stayed for over three years.
She married fellow broadcaster Mike Smith in 1989, five years after leaving the show.
The pair had been in a horrifying helicopter crash, the year before, which prompted Mike to pop the question.
The pair were happily married until he tragically died in 2014 due to complications of heart failure following major surgery on his heart.
Since this death, Sarah has found love again with an old pal of her husband, Rob Gravett.
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Speaking about the blossoming romance, she said: "I sort of know Mike is pulling so many strings in my life.
"He has undoubtedly been responsible for me meeting my beloved who was one of his oldest friends, who waited a certain amount of time but did keep leaving messages on the answering machine."
