Susanna Reid

Susanna Victoria Reid is an English journalist and news broadcaster.

Background

Susanna Reid was born on December 10, 1970 in Croydon, Surrey, UK. Her father, an Englishman of Scottish ancestry worked as a management consultant and her English mother was a nurse. She has two older siblings. Her parents divorced when she was just a little girl at 9 years old.  The divorce was hard on the young Susanna but she was able to get through it with the help of her siblings. If she was an only child, the divorce would have been a tougher ordeal for her but she wasn’t alone. Her siblings reminded her that she had their love and even the love of her parents even though they were no longer going to be married.

Susanna was a student of Croham Hurst School where she was known as a committed scholar. She tried to set herself apart by the rest of her peers by staying dedicated to her tasks and school assignments. She went to study politics, philosophy and law at the University of Bristol. At Bristol, she went on to get a Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism at the Cardiff School of Journalism.

While a student at the University of Bristol, she was the editor of Epigram, the student newspaper that was published and circulated around the university. Susanna started to get a real itch for journalism because of her experience with the school newspaper. She was able to get instant feedback on her articles from her teachers and her fellow classmates. She really enjoyed the fact that she was able to right about things and experiences that were so intimate to her. She would attend a college function and be able to go back to her room to write an article with the event fresh on her mind. After a college sporting event, she still had the highlights and action of the game in her head. She was grateful to have an outlet to express her college experiences.

Broadcasting Career

Reid was best known as the co-presenter of BBC Breakfast when she started in 2003. She remained on the job until she exited in early 2014. Currently, she is the co-presenter of the newly launched ITV Breakfast program called Good Morning Britain with Charlotte Hawkins, Ben Shepherd and Sean Fletcher. The show airs on weekdays from Monday through Thursday.  On April 28, 2014, she made her debut on the show Good Morning Britain which she enjoys very much.

Reid has worked as a regular newsreader and covered various programs such as the Oscars in 2009 and 2010. Reid has written critically acclaimed and engaging series of radio programs such as ‘Reid It and Weep.’

Relationship Troubles

Early in 2014, Reid separated from her longtime partner Dominic Cotton, a former sports correspondent. They were in a relationship since 1998 but after a decade of love, things came to an end. Together, they have three sons Sam, Finn and Jack.

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Reid is a talented dancer, she was on a tour with BBC’s show Strictly Come Dancing team. Strictly Come Dancing made her a star but it cost her relationship with Cotton. Cotton had enough of the separation and time away from each other. He was becoming sexually frustrated and emotionally withdrawn from Susanna. He deiced to sign up with a dating website called Match.com to find new love with a woman between 35 and 45 years. The relationship problem was another example of the curse of the Strictly Come Dancing team. Numerous couples have split up after appearing on the show. It seems that there are two reasons that cause couples to split up. One reason is the reason that happened to Susanna where one of the dance competitors had to leave a significant other at home while they went on the show to train. Another reason is that one of the dance competitors falls in love with another competitor on the show. Reid’s dance partner was Kevin Clifton but nothing happened between them. It wasn’t Reid that caused the rift between her and her man, it was her man that couldn’t control his urges and decided to venture off and find something for himself because he was so lonely.

Reid was busy and focused on chasing the public spotlight as a dancer while her partner shouldered the burden the responsibility of caring for their three sons. At the height of her dancing fame, Cotton told her he wanted to break up with her. Reid was stunned and shocked. Her constant long absences away from home made him feel increasingly ignored and undervalued. It was confirmed in February 2014 that the couple separated. However, she hoped that they would remain good friends for the sake of their children. Reid and Cotton never got married and didn’t have to deal with stress of divorce but it was still tough to end a long relationship.

According to Cotton, Susanna never wanted marriage. When she heard he had signed up on the dating website looking for new love, Reid was shocked and shaking with tears running down her face. Though Cotton is still looking for new love, Reid is also still single and hopes Cotton will have a change of heart and reunite with the family. Friends of Reid said she was utterly devastated and struggling to cope with the separation because she thought he was fully committed since they had children together.

Feminism Controversy

Susanna has been the target of male feminists. In her interactions with Piers Morgan, the famous anchor, male feminists claimed that she enables his anti-feminist views. In an interview with the Guardian, she defended her views of feminism, “It wasn’t women who were criticizing me, it was the men. They accused me of enabling his anti-feminist views. The man sitting next to me was spouting off whatever he believes, which I don’t agree with, and I was trying to stand up for my views, and the right for women to march. I had men telling me it was my fault he was saying this. And I was just like, I’ve had enough of men telling me how I should be a feminist. I’ve had enough of it.”

Personal Life

Most people think that her first appearances on television were from her anchoring career but the truth is the talented journalist had actually made her debut as a little girl. In her youth, Reid acted in a stage production of Agatha Christie’s Spider’s Web (1982) and in The Price (1985) which appeared on Channel 4.

She was voted as one of Britain’s sexiest moms on Zoo Weekly’s Top 10 list. In 2013, she was voted 96th in the 100 sexiest women list of For Him Magazine. Susanna now enjoys a peaceful and wealthy life in Lambeth, London. Reid loves her job and profession very much. When she has time off, she is very interested in charity work and is connected with many charitable companies. She hopes to continue doing it in future as long as she has the time and resources to contribute.

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