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Carol Kirkwood fought back tears as the weather presenter announced she was leaving BBC Breakfast after more than 25 years on the programme. The meteorologist, 63, previously opened up about the moment she was forced to come off air and have a "good cry" behind the scenes as the on-screen favourite made a candid admission.

Carol, who joined the BBC in 1998, was married to Jimmy Kirkwood - a Scottish businessman - for 25 years. However, their union came to an end but it was not in a dramatic fashion, their marriage had simply run its course.

Speaking to the Daily Express last year, she explained, "I still had to be smiling Carol on screen. It was all so shocking to me and I found it a real challenge.

I'd come off-air - we used to broadcast from the Blue Peter garden in those days - go to the Ladies, have a good cry and then have to reapply my eye make-up before stepping in front of the cameras again."

She continued: "In a funny way, though, all of that helped with the healing process. I put my grief into a compartment which I kept separate from my work, otherwise, I'd have ended up in a puddle of tears. Work kept me going.

It was simple - I had a public face and a private face."

The weather forecaster has since remarried having tied the knot with her husband Steve Randall two years ago.

Carol will leave Breakfast in April and said it had been an "absolute privilege" to bring viewers the weather.

After her regular morning forecast, she broke the news of her departure sitting on the Breakfast sofa, saying she was looking forward to spending more time with her husband Steve and going travelling.

Carol told presenters Jon Kay and Sally Nugent: "I didn't want to get emotional, but you two are my friends, and I love you dearly."

"I want to spend more time with my gorgeous husband Steve. We're ships that pass in the night, so I'm really looking forward to doing that. We want to travel as well."

She added: "I've loved my job, I've loved working at the BBC, but I love my husband more than my job."