Fiona Bruce is hosting a two-hour General Election debate tonight as a Question Time Leaders’ Special with Sir Keir Starmer and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak facing questions from the audience.
Bruce, 60, has already been praised during election coverage for her ‘brutal’ put down of Nigel Farage, but in recent months, also hit headlines for the wrong reasons.
Earlier this year, her ‘offensive’ question to a visually impaired person sparked immense backlash, while last year she was forced to apologise and stepped down from her role as an ambassadorof the charity Refuge after a comment about Stanley Johnson’s alleged domestic abuse.
The BBC presenter is also equally well known for her role hosting Antiques Roadshow, after she joined the broadcaster as a researcher on Panorama in 1989.
She later became the first female newsreader on BBC News at Ten, and has since fronted various programmes including Crimewatch and Fake or Fortune?
But what about her life away from the cameras?
Is Fiona Bruce married and who is her husband?
Bruce married her husband Nigel Sharrocks in 1994, and the couple are still together today.
Sharrocks is a businessman, and is the chair of media ad agency Local Planet.
He was also appointed a non-executive chairman of Digital Cinema Media in 2013.
He previously served as Managing Director of Warner Bros Pictures UK, which he joined in 1999 and saw the release of more than 150 movies including the Harry Potter franchise.
In the 90s, Sharrock launched and stood as chairman of media agency MediaCom, and was managing director of Grey Advertising.
Is Fiona Bruce’s husband a Tory donor?
In recent years, allegations emerged over Bruce being subject to potential bias after it was claimed that her husband’s company had advertising contracts worth millions from the government.
However, those accusations have since been debunked, after the BBC released a statement in June 2023.
It read: ‘We have discussed concerns over Fiona Bruce’s impartiality, because of her husband’s previous role, with the senior editorial team at Question Time, who would like to clarify certain points.’
‘We believe it’s important to recognise that Fiona Bruce’s opinions are not defined by her husband. As with all BBC journalists, she is expected to be impartial in her role in the BBC and we are satisfied that she is.’
‘For the record, Fiona Bruce’s husband Nigel Sharrocks has never donated to the Conservative party.Mr Sharrocks is not CEO of Carat Global Management Ltd. The account to advertise Conservative government policy, which has been referred to, was won by a subsidiary of a company of which Mr Sharrocks was once CEO, but after he had left the company.’
Does Fiona Bruce have children?
Bruce and Sharoocks have two children, Sam, who was born in 1998, and Mia, who was born in 2001.
The family reportedly have a home in Belsize Park, London, and another in Sydenham, Oxfordshire.
After the birth of her daughter, Bruce sparked debate when she returned to work just 16 days later.
Responding to the comments, she told The Telegraph: ‘I’m not some mad career monster.
‘I don’t want people to think I’m setting a terribly bad example here – the last thing I would advocate is women rushing back to work with a baby.’
She insisted it was her decision, saying it was what she wanted to do, and added: ‘Ireally enjoy doing Crimewatch – I take the baby in and they’re all really keen to see her. It’s perfectly possible to do, though I have to take someone with me as I obviously can’t hold her when I go on air.’
In 2021, Bruce opened up about having a live-in nanny for 20 years, saying: ‘Did I spend enough time with my children? I think scratch the surface of any working woman and she will always think, “Probably not.”
‘I don’t think there’s such a thing as quality time with your children. I think it’s quantity.’
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She added toGood Housekeeping: ‘But there’s never been any question that they take precedence over everything in my life, and always have done.’
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