SHE once confessed to rarely turning up to present her Radio 1 afternoon show without a hangover.
And Edith Bowman admits she’s relieved her wild days partying in the late Nineties and Noughties with celeb pals like This Morning’s Cat Deeley were before the dawn of social media.
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“We did get a bit of attention, Cat and I. There’s a few dodgy pictures,” she laughs.
“We were – and still are – really good mates. And we liked going out.
“But suddenly [the story] was Cat and I are a lesbian couple and stuff. It’s so lazy.
“I had a great time when I was at MTV and Radio 1. We did get papped every now and then, we would rock up at the Met Bar, but it wasn’t like we were there every night.”
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Now 51 and a countryside-dwelling mum-of-two, Edith feels sympathy for the younger generation of celebs who face trolling on social media for every little thing they say and do.
“It’s like you almost breathe in the wrong way and like the world is on you,” she says.
“Nobody’s perfect, but if you make a mistake on a public platform, it’s very hard to come back from it.
“There’s just no space for anybody to learn, I guess. You don’t get the chance to mess up in public life, apologise and try again.”
As a high-profile woman in the media, Edith thinks she’s been able to keep her award-winning career on track by refusing to compromise her values.
One example is shunning lads’ mags shoots at the height of her Noughties heyday, despite the pressure on famous women to strip for covers.
“In hindsight, it’s the best thing I’ve ever did, because I think it’s one of the things that allows me that level of anonymity that I still have in my private life,” Edith says.
“I feel like if I’d done more of them, I would have been much more tabloid fodder.
“Because I was like: ‘I’ll do a nice shoot, but I’m not going be my pants’.
“It was hard as a young woman starting out in the industry, feeling like you need to follow what everybody else is doing, and actually, it made me feel really uncomfortable.
“I’ve not got the best self-esteem about my body anyway, so I didn’t want that being the thing that people focused on.”
The Scottish star, who grew up in Anstruther, Fife, and spent her weekends working in the family hotel, also faced pressure to lose her distinctive accent.
“My mum’s still got an envelope of rejection letters from broadcasters that I’ve worked for since, who at the time asked: ‘Have you ever thought about elocution lessons?’,” she says.
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“Again, the easy thing would have been to do it, but I was like, it’s who I am.”
The star also turned down offers to start a music career after winning Celebrity Fame Academy in 2005, including the chance to remake Fairytale of New York with Scouting for Girls.
“I wasn’t interested – I was just on there to have fun and raise money for Comic Relief,” she says.
“When I sing at home, they all tell me to shut up.”
While she competed on Celebrity Masterchef last year, Edith has said no to gracing the Strictly dancefloor, much to her mum’s disappointment.
“It’s a lot, the time they ask from you, and I love my job – I don’t like the idea of giving that up,” she says.
“I love music and I love dancing. Maybe further down the line but not just now.”
Edith has been married to Editors frontman Tom Smith since 2013 and the couple have two sons, Rudy, 16, and Spike, 12.
But despite being a couple in showbiz, they’ve been at pains not to be a showbiz couple, with Tom staying away the red carpet when Edith attends events.
“We’re like one of those Severance couples with our ‘innies’ and ‘outies’,” she jokes.
While it’s been hard to keep their family life private, Edith says she was delighted when their youngest son googled himself at school and couldn’t find a single picture.
“I’m in my fifties now, but I actually feel more driven and younger than I ever have, because I’m in the world I want to be in”
Presenter Edith Bowman
Raising teen boys has been brought into sharp focus since the Netflix drama Adolescence, with Edith recently interviewing star Stephen Graham and director Philip Barantini for the 500th episode of her hit podcast Soundtracking.
“I had to force myself to get past the first ten minutes of the first episode, because I felt physically sick and uncomfortable,” she admits.
“There are so many things as a parent that you could suddenly find yourself being dropped in.
“You kind of go – that could be me, that could be us, that could be my son. And I almost like felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
Working as a parenting “tag team” with Tom and ensuring her sons have good female role models is how she combats negative influences, as well as honest conversations about consent and porn.
But she’s not planning a kneejerk reaction of banning screens in the wake of the Netflix show.
“That’s how our kids communicate with their friends and because we live quite remotely, they don’t have the luxury of nipping to a mate’s house,” she explains.
“So much of their school work is done on screen too.
“As I police and navigate it, I’ve got to bear all that in mind. It’s a really delicate relationship but it’s one that we’re constantly monitoring.
“Also, I have to remember that I’d to come home from school and I’d spend an hour on the phone with my best friend, who only lived a five-minute walk away.”
She’s also doing her best through her podcast – where she interviews screen greats about their musical influences – to elevate women’s voices in the male-dominated industry.
“Soundtracking came out of frustration at not being able to get anybody to give me a show to talk about film and music,” Edith says.
“I went, all right, I’m gonna do it myself.
“And I’m really proud that we did and that we have built this thing up. I just love doing it.”
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The show has expanded into live events with a monthly film club at Everyman, while Edith continues to present on Radio 2, Radio 3 and telly.
Edith says she’s seen a slow change in critics and audiences in the nine years since her first podcast episode with British director Ben Wheatley.
“Normally, you’d be surrounded by kind-of grumpy middle-aged white men in screening rooms.
“Now it’s a really beautiful, diverse room of people that are there to talk about film. That’s nice to see.”
Having interviewed the likes of Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Ridley Scott since 2016, Edith still has a long list of desired guests, with composer John Williams at the top.
“I’m in my fifties now, but I actually feel more driven and younger than I ever have, because I’m in the world I want to be in,” she says.
“My dream would be to have a chat show that’s predominantly around film and music. And an American colleague asked: ‘Why have you not got one yet?’.
“I don’t know, but there is only so much you can do yourself.
“It’s just learning to be patient. And remembering my mum’s favourite phrase – what’s meant for you, won’t pass you by.”
Soundtracking with Edith Bowman is available on all podcast providers.