People always ask me the same question about Chris Evans and what really went – here’s the truth, says Gaby Roslin
THEY had electric chemistry on camera and Gaby Roslin admits – 30 years on – she STILL gets asked if she bedded former Big Breakfast co-host Chris Evans.
The presenter, who rose to fame on the early morning show, always disappoints fans with the same answer.
“It’s a no,” she says. “We always get asked if we have slept together and it makes us both laugh. It’s been 30 years at the end of this month since we were presenting together, and people still ask us.
“Like at CarFest, Chris’s amazing festival that raises millions of pounds for charities.
“A couple of people came up to me, saying: ‘It’s so lovely to meet you, did you and Chris ever?’ To which I always reply, ‘No, we never did.’ But everybody always wants to know.”
Chris, 56, was married to Loose Women’s Carol McGiffin while presenting The Big Breakfast with Gaby, who believes that rumours they slept together could stem from comments the Virgin Radio presenter once made.
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She says: “Chris said in the past that I apparently had a sex dream about him, but I don’t know where he got that from.
“We’re still very close friends though and we just hit it off from day one. We are always going to be connected somehow.”
‘TV IS MUCH SAFER NOW’
The Big Breakfast launched in 1992 with Gaby and Chris, then aged 28 and 26 respectively.
Within a year, it was averaging four million viewers thanks to their signature brand of chaos and camaraderie.
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Gaby was even asked to fake an orgasm live on the air — recreating the famous scene from 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally, starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan.
She says: “It was when American actor Billy Crystal came on as a guest. I had to recreate a scene which involved faking an orgasm. I like to be naughty. I don’t take myself too seriously.”
The show — which recently returned on Saturday mornings with hosts AJ Odudu and Mo Gilligan — was known for pushing boundaries.
Gaby, 58, says: “We were the first show to do a live wedding. It was a Monday, we were talking to the ‘family of the week’, and I said live on air, ‘Why don’t we get you married live on telly?’ And by Friday they were married on the show.”
She added: “TV is much safer now. I remember Chris turned around live on air once and said, ‘Oh, you’ve got PMT today?’ And I went, ‘Yes.’ And it caused such outrage because no one had ever discussed that on national television before.
“Now you think, ‘So what?’ Life was very different back then. People are much more open now.”
Gaby also reveals she kept her love of make-up and fashion under wraps for fear of being branded an airhead.
She says: “I love make-up but years ago you’d have to be quiet if you liked that sort of thing as it meant you were a bimbo. Now you can be loud and proud, so I am.
“I love make-up. Even when I gave birth I had mascara on.”
Gaby left the show — which also made stars of Denise van Outen and Johnny Vaughan — in 1996, two years after Chris had departed. She has since hosted Children In Need, The One Show and Lorraine and presents a Radio London show every Sunday afternoon.
TV is much safer now. I remember Chris turned around live on air once and said, ‘Oh, you’ve got PMT today?’ And I went, ‘Yes.’
But despite her fame, at home Gaby is simply known as Mum. She shares daughter Libbi-Jack, 21, with first husband, musician Colin Peel, and Amelie, 15, with current hubby, publisher David Osman.
Gaby says: “Both of the girls have grown up together and lived together, and I’ve never found it difficult. I’m very lucky. They just see me as a mum, as a daft mum who wakes them up by sitting on them singing musical theatre songs.”
And even though she is two years away from turning 60, Gaby doesn’t feel a day older than 33.
She says: “I find it extraordinary how obsessed people are with women’s ages. I always say I am 33. I will remain 33 for ever. Even with the kids, if someone asks, ‘How old is your mum?’ they say, ‘She is 33.’
“As my eldest daughter is 21, she says, ‘God, you had me young’. I say: ‘Yes and soon you will be older than me.”
Indeed, Gaby looks younger than her years and she puts it down to getting plenty of exercise and giving up booze.
She says: “I walk ten miles a day. Walking is an extraordinary life change I have done. I don’t drink alcohol. I gave it up four years ago. I didn’t want a hangover because it stopped me walking.
“I’m a positive person. As long as I’ve got my mascara on, and have my 11 different lipsticks and lipglosses in my bag, I’m fine.”
Her dad, broadcaster Clive Roslin, now 86, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 1996, and her mum died from lung cancer the following year, aged 62, which Gaby says has made her more health conscious.
She was also friends with Sun columnist Dame Deborah James, who died from bowel cancer in June. She was asked to be involved in Deborah’s book How To Live When You Could Be Dead.
I don’t drink alcohol. I gave it up four years ago. I didn’t want a hangover because it stopped me walking.
‘I WON’T POSE NAKED’
Gaby says: “Deborah and I became friends because I read about her and I asked her to come on my Sunday afternoon radio show four or five years ago. Then she started coming on the show more and more, and we were friends ever since.
“Her book is incredible. I was honoured and humbled to voice the book. I am the audio version, and when they asked me to do that, it was incredible. I also wrote the foreword. I was overwhelmed when her family asked me to do that.”
Gaby is currently focusing on her own weekly podcast series, That Gaby Roslin Podcast, where she interviews stars including Michael Buble and Emeli Sande.
She says: “I love my work. I am so chuffed to still be doing it 36 years on. I plan to do it until I am 99. But seeing as I am only 33, I still have 66 years left.”
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She adds: “I will always be crazy. But one thing I won’t do is a birthday suit shoot. I ain’t being photographed naked for anyone. Put me on a zipwire or take me indoor skydiving and I’m there.
“I just want to spread joy – life is too short.”