Mary Portas looks completely unrecognisable as she ditches signature red bob… after ‘horrendous’ divorce & money woes
MARY Portas became famed as the Queen of Shops thanks to her documentaries and best-selling books – and of course, her iconic Lego-like red bob.
But the 63-year-old, who has raised £30m for Save the Children, debuted a new look after being appointed OBE for services to retail, broadcasting and charity on Wednesday.
Fans likely will have done a double take after seeing her accept the honour at Windsor Castle, with the telly personality embracing her natural grey hair in a longer cut.
After appearing on Channel 4‘s Richard & Judy chat show in 2005, Mary has frequently appeared on primetime television and landed lucrative deals across books, TV and private engagements.
She ran for four series on the BBC between 2007 to 2010, before jumping over to Channel 4 with Mary Portas: Secret Shopper which followed a similar format.
In most of her TV work, Mary visits both independent and high street chain stores in a bid to turnaround their fortunes with her expert advice.
She gained prominence for her expertise in visual merchandising and retail strategy displayed through her telly career.
But it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses for the Watford-born presenter.
In 2019, she split from her fashion consultant wife Melanie Rickey and described the divorce as “completely horrendous” in an interview with The Guardian.
“I divorced, I had to sell my family home, I had to reset my family with this young son, find another home and work out how things were going to work,” she candidly shared.
After 17 years together, the couple were forced to sell their £5 million home in London’s posh Primrose Hill and moved into separate houses nearby.
At the same time as her marriage broke down, lockdown hit and Mary’s consultancy business was haemorrhaging “hundreds of thousands” of pounds.
Mary ditched the bob during the Covid-19 pandemic after finding she couldn’t get to the hairdresser to keep up her electric colour during lockdown.
For a long time, my red bob was ‘me’. When I was Queen of Shops, that hair cut defined me
Mary Portas
“For a long time, my red bob was ‘me’,” she shared on Instagram in May last year.
“When I was Queen of Shops, that hair cut defined me.
“But then came Covid, and no trips to the hairdresser, and the bob grew out, and the colour faded.
“At first I panicked a bit; who was I without the bob?
“But then I realised that actually this was a chance for the outside of me to change to reflect what was happening on the inside.
“When my hair started changing back in the first dark days of Covid, I’d written Work Like A Woman, I was beginning to write Rebuild and I’d shifted so much of my personal mindset
“And so I embraced my new look.”
She urged others to “play, experiment, try new things and be joyful” as they age.
“Find the look on the outside to suit the richness of all the layers that are on your inside,” she said.