In the '90s, Jenny Powell was a cultural icon, appearing on some of British TV’s biggest entertainment shows.
Now 58, the Greatest Hits radio host is inspiring her 270,000 followers on Instagram by opening up about subjects such as women’s health, parenting and dating after divorce.
“It’s now, more than ever, that people tap me on the shoulder because I was on so many shows that resonated with them,” Jenny tells Ateh Jewel in this week’s episode of HELLO!’s Second Act podcast.
“Back then, I was pretty oblivious to the fame thing. We didn't even have time to walk down the street because we were always working, always out on location.”
Jenny’s career began when she was just 16, after she won a competition to present the pop-music programme No Limits. Millions of viewers watched as she went on to become one of the youngest hosts of Top of the Pops, also presenting a string of Saturday morning TV shows (including Gimme 5 with a young Ant and Dec) and fronting Wheel of Fortune.
High-profile relationships with pop stars such as Matt Goss from Bros and Take That’s Jason Orange kept her in the newspaper headlines – and at the mercy of dangerously jealous fans who would post lit cigarette butts through her letterbox. “I think I’ve still got a pair of Matt’s jeans in my mum’s loft,” she laughs.
Despite her popularity, Jenny struggled with imposter syndrome – something she still battles against. “I remember thinking: ‘This job I've got on TV that I've won, it's just going to be this, and then I'll go back,’ and I've done that for the past 40 years.”
She credits therapy for helping her to regain confidence in her fifties, after she suffered burnout triggered by trauma built up over the years due to health issues, the death of her father in 2021 and her divorce from her former husband, Toby Baxendale, in 2009. The entrepreneur was unfaithful when she was seven months pregnant with their daughter Pollyanna; they also have an elder daughter, Constance.
“The [therapists] put a few things in place for me, because I was burnt out,” she says. “Before [therapy], I went back to work, because then you don't have to deal and heal.”
Jenny, who is hosting the Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames this month, says that although her career has changed as she has got older, she is happier than ever. “This is a beautiful age,” says the star, who has been engaged to the sports therapist Martin Lowe since 2014; the couple met in a coffee shop.
“I was too much of a people-pleaser before. I'm in control now. It's only in your second part where that confidence comes through, where you do trust yourself, your decisions and what you think and feel.”
For more info, visit rewindfestival.com.
Listen to the Second Act podcast, now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts and Youtube.
