Clare Balding and wife Alice
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Clare Balding on hearing issue that leaves her ‘shouting’ at wife Alice

Oh dear!

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Clare Balding previously opened up about a health issue that appeared to cause some tension at home with her wife.

For years, Clare has been a staple on screens and has been hosting coverage of the Paralympics on Channel 4. Away from the job though, Clare is loved-up with wife Alice Arnold.

However, despite being a go-to-interviewer and journalist, Clare once shared how she struggles to hear what a lot of guests are saying.

Clare Balding and wife Alice
The TV star opened up about a health issue (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Clare Balding wife

In 2020, Clare appeared on Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable. Chatting to the host, Clare shared how she’s lost 90% of her hearing.

“I really need to get my ears done. I’m at about 10% and I guess the rest,” Clare revealed.

“My wife keeps saying to me, ‘Stop shouting!’ because I’m clearly over-projecting because I can’t hear myself.”

Sympathising with the star, Mel added: “I hear about 60%.”

Clare Balding and wife Alice
The TV star is loved-up with Alice (Credit: SplashNews.com)

Clare Balding and wife Alice Arnold

Clare met her wife, fellow broadcaster Alice Arnold, in 1999 while working at the BBC. They committed to each other in a civil partnership ceremony in 2006.

When the UK finally legalised same-sex marriage, the pair walked down the aisle again in 2015.

“They just backdate it to when you did your civil partnership. So officially now we have been married since 2006,” Clare revealed during an appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show.

On coming out

Before she managed to become a household name, Clare secretly feared that her sexuality might end her career before it had begun.

While being gay was legal in the 90s, there was still a major stigma regarding people in the public eye coming out. Her concerns led to Clare keeping the fact she was gay a secret for almost a decade.

In her 2021 book Fall Off, Get Back On Keep Going, she said: “I was brought up to think that the only ‘acceptable’ relationship meant being married to a man, with a big wedding in a church.

“I was worried that if people discovered I was in a relationship with a woman I would get insulted or even that I might be discriminated against when it came to choosing presenters for big events and programmes on TV.”

Catch Clare hosting coverage of the Paralympics on Channel 4.

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Read more: BBC’s apology to Clare Balding over ‘blatantly indefensible’ joke about her sexuality: ‘We got it wrong’

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Joey Crutchley
Freelance Writer

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