Carol Vorderman reveals she has some 'special friends' - including an astronaut

Carol Vorderman has opened up about her dating life to reveal she has some “special friends” - including an astronaut.

The former Countdown star spilled the beans as she and her friend Gyles Brandreth hosted a relationship phone in on ITV’s This Morning.

The TV star, 61, was asked by a guest which age bracket he should be looking in for dates.

Read more: Carol Vorderman says she plans to stay single and is ‘not suited to being in a couple’

Talking about her own life, she said: “This chapter, since I was about 50, so for the last decade or so, I’ve lived a life which is much freer. I have never felt freer.

“So I have ignored the looking for one person and I have a number what I've called 'special friends'."

Vorderman later told hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary: “One of them has gone on for many more years than my marriage.

"Yeah, it's over 10 years. Another is seven."

"He's an astronaut," she added, saying he had called her from the Space Station.

After the show aired, the TV star addressed the discussion in a post on Instagram.

"I wanted to break one of the last taboos where women of my generation and others have been told that we need to marry and then live 'happily ever after'," she said.

"The facts speak differently. Half of first marriages end in divorce. Around 2/3rds of second marriages end in divorce. They all begin with hope and then sadly end.

"There is another way for this modern world where the majority of women work."

She went on: "For those who have found traditional monogamous love and it's lasted for decades then I can only offer you honest congratulations.

"However, there are different kinds of love and relationships. I have never felt freer since I've said I don't want to marry again and am happier with a small number of special friends, all of whom I've known for a long time. There are different kinds of relationships and a less pressurised one is one which suits many of us. It's just that society has said we can't talk about it.

"Well stuff that."

Viewers loved the maths whizz’s revelation.

“Carol Vorderman talking about her ‘special friends’ on This Morning is iconic," one said on Twitter.

“I mean I’m kinda loving the fact Carol has many ‘special friends’, good for you hun, go get ‘em,” said another.

Someone else joked: “Carol Vorderman on the telly talking about how she has many ‘special friends’ is enough TV for one day.”

Read more: Carol Vorderman 'sick' at the thought of sharing her life again

Vorderman was married for a year when she was in her 20s, then went on to tie the knot with Patrick King in 1990. They had two children but went their separate ways a decade later 2000.

Watch: Carol Vorderman opens up about menopause struggles