Susanna Reid has said that she is frustrated at being labelled a flirt.
The Good Morning Britain star, 44, has been accused of flirting with David Beckham, Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner, former Downton Abbey actor Dan Stevens and Prime Minister David Cameron during interviews, while viewers even saw actor Luke Evans nuzzle into her neck as he promoted his Dracula film.
Susanna Reid (Nicky Johnston/ Good Housekeeping Magazine)
But she told Good Housekeeping magazine: “Wearing a dress and chewing a pen is interpreted as something else. It’s frustrating – I’m a professional interviewer whose job it is to get the absolute best out of people.
“To then have it described in a different way, feels a bit like, come on, really? But,” she added,“it enables you to lay down another layer of thick skin.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89hFdU0K9NU&feature=oembed
Susanna said that she did not choose what to wear on the show and said of headlines surrounding her encounter with the Prime Minister on the programme: “It did feel like the wrong focus of the interview. It’s a little bit reductionist to boil it down to wearing a dress, AKA flashing the pins. I don’t choose a particular dress.
“You have to accept a certain level of scrutiny but does it frustrate me sometimes, of course it does.”
Susanna told the magazine that she did not feel the need to look for love again and that she was not tempted to try internet dating after splitting from her long-term partner, Dominic Cotton, the father of her three sons, last year.
Susanna Reid is on the cover of Good Housekeeeping (Nicky Johnston/ Good Housekeeping Magazine)
“I’m not dating, but I still go out,” she said. “Do I have lots of male friends? Yes. Gay, straight, married. I was in a relationship for 16 years and I’m not in a rush to be involved in anything else.
“What I have is a job that is utterly fulfilling, three children who I’m completely dedicated to and a great friendship with their dad.”
The TV presenter added: “We are still really good friends and we have an arrangement where we are doing absolutely the best we can for our kids.
“People found that unusual, but it has worked. We have a very good, positive and genuine friendship that will last now and three great kids who we adore and would do anything for.”
She added: “I want women to know that with good friends and your own resolve you can get through the tough stuff. The tricky stuff passes. There is always the next day.”
Susanna said that she would not rule out Botox in future but added: “I’m slightly worried that as soon as you start tinkering, other things then look like they need work, and suddenly you’re on that rollercoaster of ‘oh dear, I seem to have changed my entire face’.
“I’m not embarrassed to say I dye my hair and spray tan my skin. My rule is I wouldn’t want to do anything to myself that I wouldn’t be happy discussing.
Susanna Reid (ITV)
“Six months down the line I might think a tiny bit of Botox and I would look a lot better. I’m not going to rule it out, but I don’t want to do it at the moment.”
Good Morning Britain recently celebrated its one-year anniversary and despite still being beaten by the BBC’s Breakfast show, she said that the morning programme was 'doing well'.
Susanna, who credits 'never been happier' to a fitness regime involving swimming, workouts, a hula-hoop and Zumba, added: “We’ve been through an extraordinary process of being under intense scrutiny but we’ve built an absolutely lovely, loyal and communicative audience, which is steadily growing.”
