Since announcing her departure from The Great British Bake Off back in September 2016, Mary Berry has kept us entertained with all kinds of other ventures, including Mary at 90: A Lifetime of Cooking, which airs on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm. Away from the silver screen, the celebrity chef lives a peaceful and quiet life with her husband and children, as well as their grandchildren. Scroll down to find out everything there is to know about Mary Berry's family life…
Mary Berry's three children
Mary and her husband Paul Hunnings, to whom she has been married since 1966, have welcomed three children together: Thomas, born in 1968, William, born in 1969, and Annabel, born in 1972. Speaking to Woman & Home in 2017, she revealed her struggles raising their children in the 1980s while also being a working mum: "I was a working mum when there weren't many working mums. It wasn't easy, but I'm very glad I did. When the children were young, I did feel very guilty, though. So I reckon I was not the best mum. I enjoy my children far more now than when they were young.
Mary's younger son tragically passed away in a car crash at just 19 years old, a time about which the celebrity chef has occasionally spoken. In the BBC documentary The Mary Berry Story, the 90-year-old spoke recalled how excited she had been to have him home from university before the accident. She said: "He hadn't been home for a few weekends, so I thought I'd do roast lamb, because it's his favouirte… I can remember Will walking through the door on that Friday night and asking, 'Mum, who's coming?', and I said, 'It's for you, it's so lovely to have you home and Annabel is here and Tom too', so we had a nice family meal."
William later borrowed the family's car to go into town with Annabel, and was tragically killed in an accident, though Annabel was not harmed. "It was a glorious January day and it was sort of one o'clock and he wasn't home," Mary said. "The doorbell rang and a policeman was there and immediately I knew why. He said, 'There's been an accident and I'm sorry to say your son is dead. " She also said, about seeing him in hospital afterwards: "He just looked so beautiful and so lovely, his cold little face and it was nice to say farewell."
Speaking to British Vogue ahead of her 90th birthday, Mary reflected further on the years since William passed, telling the publication: "You know we were so lucky to have him. He brought us such joy. I feel for people who have lost their child in a skiing accident or when they don't know where they died. We got to be a family unit [right up until] those few hours before he died."
Mary's daughter who followed in her footsteps
Though Thomas did not pursue a culinary career like his mother, in fact becoming a tree surgeon, Annabel is a trained chef, and has occasionally appeared alongside her mother on TV. In fact, she trained at the prestigious Cordon Bleu cookery school, just like her mother, according to Daily Mail.
Mary and Annabel have also worked together on various occasions in the past 30 years: in the 1990s, they set up 'Mary Berry & Daughter' together, which produced dressings, chutneys, cake mixes and sauces, before selling the company for £2.5 million in 2014, the publication reported.
Mary's grandchildren
Mary's grown-up children in fact now have children of their own, making the beloved 90-year-old TV personality a grandmother of five. Thomas has 22-year-old twins, Gracie and Abby, while Annabel has three children: Louis, 20, Hobie, 17 and Atlanta, 15. In her interview with Woman & Home, she gleefully expressed how much she enjoys spending time with them, saying: "I'm very involved with my grandchildren, too. I love having them over – and I don't like giving them back!"