Gabby Logan: "I appreciate life in a whole new way now"

Gabby Logan is gearing up for a pretty big summer. She'll be hosting the BBC's coverage of the Euros this June, before turning her attention to the Paris 2024 Olympics, the first to see equal numbers of male and female athletes compete. She's also turned her popular podcast, The Mid Point, into a book, The Midpoint Plan, which is out this July.

In an exclusive interview in Good Housekeeping's July issue, the former rhythmic gymnast opened up about her Olympics excitement and why this year is a real 'girl power' moment.

'I can’t wait. It was my dream to compete at the Olympics and it was a huge source of regret that I quit gymnastics a year or so out from a Games because of an injury,' she says.

'So, to get to scratch that itch and be around these amazing uber-women by working on it is something I’m forever grateful for.

To see a Games achieve gender parity is incredible, isn’t it? And it’s not just a case of having women in a team; we have these superstar athletes, such as Helen Glover and Keely Hodgkinson, who are excelling in their fields. That’s girl power.'

Since launching her podcast, The Mid Point, in 2020, the presenter has become a key voice in the conversation around the menopause, and she opened up to GH about her own experience and the impact it had on her.

'The thing that affected me most was the brain fog. Feeling slightly unsure about things was such an unfamiliar feeling – and I thought, "Oh, God, am I going to keep doing my job if I can’t recall somebody’s name?"' she says.

'Fortunately, HRT has been great and I try to do regular exercise for my brain now, whether that’s testing myself on remembering numbers or people’s names. I also have a piece of paper next to me whenever I’m on set, which I constantly scribble notes on to help me remember things.'

Now something of a poster girl for midlife wellbeing, Gabby's new book, The Midpoint Plan, draws on all the midlife lessons she's learnt. And no one is more surprised than her about the direction her career has taken.

'I started the whole ‘midpoint’ thing because all these perimenopausal symptoms hit me at once – anxiety and feeling a bit lacklustre – and I didn’t like the person I was becoming,' she says.

'I had this real yearning to learn more, which is how my podcast began. And it’s given me real confidence in this period in my life that, actually, anything is possible. I even did a half marathon with Lois recently – and I haven’t run that far in 20 years!'

Gabby also revealed that she's faced difficult moments along the way, too. She was just 19 when her brother Daniel died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy aged 15, while playing football with their father, former Leeds United star Terry Yorath.

'It’s strange because you don’t lose your brother and think, "Well this is a good life lesson," but at some point you realise that, actually, you have learned a lot – and that you’ve been exposed to a depth of emotion that you didn’t know existed,' she says.

'It’s taught me how resilient we are as humans, how we can come back from really dark days and things that make you go, "What’s the point? Why are we here?" And that you can laugh again and find joy in life.'

She faced another challenge in 2022 when her husband, Kenny, was diagnosed with prostate cancer following a check-up. After undergoing surgery, he was given the all-clear, much to the relief of the family, including their 18-year-old twins, Reuben and Lois.

After two decades of marriage to Kenny, Gabby shared what she's learnt about sustaining long-term love throughout the highs and lows of life.

'Sometimes there’s going to be a player who needs picking up, and other times they’re the star of the game and it’s someone else who needs the boost,' she says.

'With a marriage, it’s the same: you’re never walking along the same bit of road at the same time. We also never stop working at it. A marriage isn’t something you can just leave to be and hope it’s all right in 15 years; it needs a bit of assessment.'

Read the full interview in Good Housekeeping’s July issue, on sale from 30^th May 2024. Gabby will host the BBC’s Olympics coverage from 26 July to 11 August. The Midpoint Plan (Piatkus) is out 3 July.