He vanished from our television screens nine months ago, and his photo portrait is no longer displayed in the atrium above the BBC’s newsroom. But Huw Edwards has not disappeared entirely.
The Mail understands the 62-year-old newsreader, who was suspended last July following allegations that a then-unnamed presenter had paid a young person ‘more than £35,000’ for sexually explicit images, has taken sanctuary in his beloved Wales and is being comforted in Carmarthenshire by his mother Aerona.
‘Huw is now living in Wales, mostly with his mother,’ a friend told this newspaper. ‘It’s just easier that way.’
Edwards, who is still reportedly receiving his full £439,000 salary, had seemed more accomplished than ever in the months preceding his suspension, earning lavish plaudits for his commentary on Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. There were even calls for him to be knighted.
Declaring that the idea ’embarrassed’ him, Edwards prepared with trademark rigour for his role leading the BBC’s coronation coverage. ‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t practise in my own mind,’ he explained.
‘I’m often on the Tube thinking, ‘What would I say if this happened?’ or, ‘What’s the best turn of phrase for this?’
He also took care to ensure that he was in peak physical condition, resuming the punishing boxing sessions that saw him shed three stone in 2019 under the supervision of former light welterweight champion, Clinton McKenzie.
‘I am going to have to lose a stone, no question,’ said Edwards, who, aside from his BBC salary, raked in £25,000 in a single month in 2022 from speaking engagements. ‘I am just a bit too tight around the waist.’
He made it plain that he left his wife, television producer Vicky Flind, in peace as he prepared. ‘I don’t stand in front of a mirror or say to my wife ‘Can you listen to this?’ I think she’d probably ask me to leave the room.’
But it was Ms Flind, with whom Edwards has five children, now all adults, who stepped forward on July 12 last year.
By then, the identity of the unnamed BBC presenter had inspired such a firestorm of speculation that Gary Lineker and Jeremy Vine felt obliged to deny that they were the man in question.
Acknowledging it was, in fact, her husband, Ms Flind explained that he was ‘receiving in-patient hospital care’, adding that would stay there for the foreseeable future, having been ‘treated for severe depression in recent years’.
In February, the BBC apologised to the young person’s family, who’d complained about Edwards two months before he was suspended, acknowledging that there had been ‘shortcomings’ in the way it had dealt with the case.
Now back in Wales, Edwards is assured of help from the one woman who perhaps understands him best.
In the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral, his mother repeatedly sent messages to him, he recalled. ‘You look exhausted,’ Aerona warned him. ‘There are huge bags under your eyes.’
James Parker is a UK-based entertainment aficionado who delves into the glitz and glamour of the entertainment industry. From Hollywood to the West End, he offers readers an insider’s perspective on the world of movies, music, and pop culture.
