Sally Nugent has been a star of the BBC Breakfast for over a decade, taking up a permanent hosting role alongside Dan Walker on the fan-favourite from 2021.
Her big hosting break landed when Louise Minchin stepped down from presenting duties after 20 long years, leaving the post open to applicants. Given her extensive track record on the show, Sally was the obvious and successful candidate.
Prior to taking her seat on the red sofa alongside Dan, Sally often helped out with hosting duties when the programme’s stars were absent or taking leave.
She would also frequently appear on the programme to update on sports bulletins alongside Mike Bushell.
Four years later, she is no longer the newbie, having bagged herself a new co-host when Dan announced he was departing the programme in 2022 after landing a dream job on Channel 5.
Jon Kay now supports Sally on Monday and Wednesday mornings and the pair certainly share a lot of laughs on screen. While we know a lot about her working career, we know very little about her life behind closed doors.
Rise to fame
Sally was born on the Wirral near Liverpool in 1971 and had a keen interest in media, going on to study Arts in Communication and French at the University of Huddersfield and leaving with a Bachelor’s grade.
After studying, she landed her first job with BBC Radio Merseyside before focusing on news reading and delivering sports on BBC North West Tonight.
A few years later, she was on to new pastures, moving on to BBC News to continue reporting on sports. It wasn’t until 2011 that she arrived on the BBC Breakfast, where she has remained to this day.
Private life and rarely seen son
When the cameras aren’t rolling, Sally is a devoted mum to a teenage son. Although the TV star has often mentioned her son, she is very guarded about sharing any information about him.
Sally has never divulged in sharing her son’s name, age, or even a picture of them together on any of her social media platforms. It is understood that despite his entire identity being kept out of the public domain, he is now in his teens and following in his mother’s sporting footsteps.
In a previous interview with The Sunday Times, Sally gave insight into a typical day at home with her family. She shared: “My alarm goes off at 3.45 a.m. I don’t have a loud, scary one that gives you a coronary. I use a light box that gently wakes me. I have a backup phone alarm set every five minutes from 3.50 a.m.”
Divorce
Although Sally likes to keep a firm lid on private matters, it was well documented that she and her husband, Gavin Hawthorn, decided to end their 13-year marriage in 2023.
While the TV host has never personally commented on the breakdown of her marriage, it was reported that they parted way “amicably” after they’d “grown apart” over the years.
According to the Daily Mail at the time, a source told them: “It’s very sad, but they are no longer together, I think they tried to tough it out for quite a while as they didn’t want to split up if they could possibly help it for the sake of their son, but they clearly couldn’t make a go of it.”
It was believed that Sally had been left “devastated” and that her ex-husband Gavin was the person to move out of their £1.4 million Cheshire family home.
Romance claims
Like many BBC Breakfast stars, Sally and her co-star Dan Walker found themselves at the centre of romance rumours on Twitter in 2020.
Normally, the show’s stars refrain from responding to trolls. However, one person’s tweet really annoyed BBC Breakfast star Dan, who is happily married to his wife, Sarah.
The online user insinuated that Sally and Dan were together because they were co-stars on the programme. At that time, Sally was still married.
Shutting down vile rumours, Dan clapped back, putting the keyboard warrior straight and received lots of online praise for doing so.
He told the Twitter user: “‘That bird’ is my friend @sallynugent, and she is happily married [at the time]. What a pathetic thing to tweet. I hope you treat that young girl in your Twitter banner photo with a bit more respect.”
Strictly
2023 proved to be quite the year for Sally. Not only did she and her husband part ways, but the TV star also signed up for the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas special.
She shared the stage with professional dancer Graziano Di Prima for the Christmas Special, with the one-off show airing on Christmas Day.
Sally competed against Rugby player Danny Cipriani, EastEnders actor Jamie Borthwick, Sugababes singer Keisha Buchanan, historian Dan Snow and children’s TV presenter Tillie Amartey.
BBC Breakfast airs every days on BBC One, from 6am.