She helped pave the way for women in television and has been an inspiration to many. Now at 73, Selina Scott is still just as impressive and beautiful as she was at the height of her career. Yet ask her about her appearance and the usually unflappable former broadcaster and journalist becomes decidedly flustered.
"Honestly I don't take much notice," she says with a wave of her hand. "At this time of year I always feel washed out so I'll put make up on in the morning. I eat well but I don't have an exercise routine – I tried and found it really boring. But I keep going, I'm active, I walk a lot. That's all I can say."
There's always been a fascination for Selina for both her beauty and charisma.
As the "golden girl" of the BBC in the 1980s she was hounded by paparazzi and plagued by endless speculation about her private life – which she will never be drawn on. It was during this period of high visibility and attention that she bought her house in Mallorca in a rural part of the west coast of the Spanish island.
Selina rarely appears on TV these days – her last foray was for a BBC series on Winter Walks in 2021 – but became a household name when she presented ITN's News at Ten (as its only female newsreader at the time) BBC Breakfast Time, The Clothes Show and a brief stint on Sky after a spell working in the US for NBC and CBS, among other channels.
There were, she says, "very few women on the scene" at the time, and when they got to a certain age, "that was it, they got their marching orders," she says, bluntly.
Older women are still not properly represented on television, she believes – even with the advances made in slowing the aging process.
"And Kay Burley has just announced her retirement," she says of the Sky News presenter, sounding disappointed. "I like Kay, she's got such a lot of spirit. She once stopped me and said: ‘We're so grateful to you as we now have 'Selina lighting' on Sky TV.'
"Years ago, I did an interview with Joan Collins for The Clothes Show," she goes on to explain.
"We had a camera on her, and a camera on me, and a lighting cameraman on both. She had a mirror she looked at, and said to the cameraman, ‘I want you to lower the light, it's far too harsh'. I remember she said to me, ‘If you allow them to light you like this, your career will be dead in the water'." So when I went to work at Sky I was like, ‘Come on, Joan.' But it was hard won, that lighting."
Through her work she's met some of the world's most powerful and famous. She enjoyed what she describes as a "kindred relationship – like an older sister/younger sister relationship" with Princess Diana, with whom she shared an uncanny resemblance.
She was once asked by Michael Shea, the Queen's press secretary, if she would give the Princess media advice. Selina turned down the request. Does she regret it now?
"No, I don't. I have thought about that, a lot, but because of the job I was doing, I don't think it could have ever worked out. But I do think that perhaps I could have helped her more," she says, quietly. "I could have helped her in ways I didn't because I felt it was too intrusive." She falters. "There was that side of it."
She believes that Diana's sons, Princes William and Harry, haven't suffered from the same level of press intrusion as their mother but she understands their mistrust.
© Getty"I think if my mother had died in the way she died, I don't think I would ever come to terms with that. Whatever the circumstances, whoever was at fault, to be chased, and be frightened… You feel completely vulnerable."
She adds: "I think William is doing a remarkable job, and I'm sure Diana would have been so proud of them both, but devastated that they should be apart like this. That's obvious, isn't it?"
To read the full exclusive interview, pick up the latest issue of HELLO! on sale in the UK on Monday. You can subscribe to HELLO! to get the magazine delivered free to your door every week or purchase the digital edition online via our Apple or Google apps.
