BBC Breakfast star warned by friend she was becoming too ‘fame-obsessed’

BBC Breakfast’s Steph McGovern has said her friend was forced to have a word with her after she started to let the fame of being a TV presenter get to her.

The 43-year-old stepped into the broadcasting role at the Beeb after first answering the phones for Radio 4’s Money Box while at university.

She went on to become a current affairs researcher at the BBC and then the producer of the financial news on the Today programme, before stepping in front of the camera for BBC Breakfast.

The ex-business reporter and host of former Channel 4 show Steph’s Packed Lunch has now spoken about the effect that being recognised in public had on her early in her career.

McGovern told The Times she ‘fell for’ the buzz of presenting and the fame that came with her position, so much so her friend Rach ended up saying something.

She told the publication: ‘I was in a restaurant not long after I’d got the job and a group of blokes sent over a bottle of champagne to my table, like, “Whey! Doing it for the northerners”.

‘People were always getting photos and stuff, which was really lovely, but my mate was like, “You are turning into a bit of a nob”. 

‘Everywhere we went I was, “Ooh, I wonder if I’ll get recognised”. And she’d be like, “Ah, shut up. Come on”. When she said it I thought, “I don’t want to be a TV nob”. And I went, “You’re right”.’

McGovern also spoke about being more careful about what she shares online now, ever since she discovered she had a stalker while presenting on the BBC.

The presenter says she was ‘oversharing’ at the time and now never discusses her partner and doesn’t post her location or photos of her house.

McGovern’s flagship Channel 4 daytime show came to an end in 2023, after the broadcaster axed it due to low viewership. 

Since then, she appeared in Netflix’s Celebrity Bear Hunt, which pitted a bunch of celebs against the wiles of Bear Grylls and saw McGovern finish a finalist. She also hosts The Rest Is Money podcast with Robert Peston.

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