Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inbox We have more newsletters Get daily celeb exclusives and behind the scenes house tours direct to your inbox We have more newsletters The Chase 's Anne Hegerty has candidly shared why she's never had a long-term partner. The 66 year old telly favourite revealed her struggle with personal space, linking her dating fears to her autism diagnosis at 45 . She once even unplugged her phone to avoid a boyfriend contacting her.
In a recent chat, she confessed: "I really struggle with closeness and having anyone else in the house. I think an awful lot of autistic people don't get married or settle down. I don't even have pets for that reason and my capacity for living with other people is just diminishing.
I need a huge amount of alone time," she firmly stated. Anne also confessed that she's quite content to stay single forever as she now needs more space than someone could "possibly give me." Her last relationship, which lasted four months, only worked because it was long-distance, with her based in Manchester at the time.
The quiz queen admitted she deliberately manipulated the situation so it wouldn't work out, reports the Mirror . Anne Hegerty initially felt a mix of emotions after the end of a particular chapter in her life. Speaking to the Daily Mail, she revealed: "I'd be sitting there just waiting for the phone to ring thinking 'don't phone, don't phone, don't phone! ' Other times, just to get over.