Fern Britton said waving goodbye to her twin sons Harry and Jack when they left for university was “very brutal.” The presenter said the move changed the shape of the household at once, leaving “only you” after there had been six people in the home.
On Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time podcast, Britton said: “It's very difficult. Yes. One minute there's six of you and then there's only you.” She added that parting with the twins was different from earlier farewells to her other children, and that the morning of moving day came with its own friction.
Harry and Jack at 31
Britton is a mother of four grown-up children: Winnie, now 23, Grace, 28, and twin sons Harry and Jack, both 31. She said the twins left differently from her earlier experience with family departures, because they were “just suddenly gone and didn't want me to deliver them or anything really.”
She also said the day itself can turn small practical jobs into arguments, recalling the sort of exchange that starts with “I'll take your bag! I can do it mother.” That is the point where sentiment and logistics collide: the parent wants to help, and the children want to move on quickly.
White Wine Question Time
Britton said the experience taught her to expect tensions on moving day. That fits with what she told Hello several years ago, when she said she would like to spend more time with her children, but the boys are “nearly 31,” busy in their own lives and living a long way from her, even though they speak a lot.
She has already described divorce in similarly unsparing terms, telling the Telegraph last year: “Divorce is not a breeze. No matter how you hope it's going to be easy and pain-free, inevitably it isn't. It's difficult and brings up a lot of unpleasant characteristics in everybody.” The through-line is plain: Britton speaks about family change without softening it for effect, and that makes the moving-day story feel lived-in rather than polished.
ITV on July 12
Britton is also scheduled to feature in Fern Britton: Inside The Vets, which is launching on ITV on July 12 at 11.30am. For viewers, that means the personal account is arriving just as she returns to screen with a new programme title already set on the schedule.
