Gardeners’ World star Rachel de Thame’s life off-screen – cancer battle to hidden career

Gardeners' World is back on our screens, and as viewers indulge in more episodes of the BBC show, learning quick tips, tricks and recipes, it's time they got to know some of the familiar faces behind it all. Rachel de Thame has been a regular on the family-favourite series since 1999, when she landed herself the role pretty quickly off the back of a gardening course. Having completed a two-year course a year prior, she was presenting on Gardeners' World in no time, and while her passion for plants has made her well-known, her private life does for the most part remain private.

The 61-year-old is now fully immersed in outdoor life, but before she was swept up by the gardening world, she was a triple threat – a dancer, actress, and model. But clearly, the TV star doesn't do things by halves; as a child growing up in North London, she trained at the prestigious Royal Ballet School Richmond, Hello! reports.

It wasn't long until she decided that the dancing life was not one for her and, at 15, decided to explore what other opportunities were out there for her. After making the decision to step down, she found herself in a stream of acting roles, from the popular TV series Merlin to the film Bodywork.

Being young and beautiful, the actress was also able to work a number of modelling jobs alongside her TV gigs. While this may have seemed a prosperous career for Rachel, it was her love of the natural world that she was feeling a pull towards, after inheriting a love of the outdoors from her father.

In 1998, Rachel enrolled at the English Gardening School, where she spent her time studying practical horticulture and plantsmanship. This passion for plants, paired with her ease being on screen, soon caught the attention of TV producers, and before she knew it, she was a presenter on Gardeners' World, as we know her today.

Fans of the show quickly grew to love her charm and were keen to learn from her expert knowledge, as she became a regular face on the series. Not to mention, Rachel has always added a touch of glamour for millions of fans to the less glamorous world of gardening.

Alongside her role in the beloved BBC series, the TV host has also been the face of several other gardening-based shows. She's starred in the likes of Small Town Gardens to Gardening with the Experts and made appearances in Countrywise and even the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.

When it comes to Rachel's family life, she's even more mysterious. Before appearing on our screens, the gardening expert married Stephen Colover in 1986, with whom she went on to have two children – Lauren and Joe.

Although their marriage came to an end in the 1990s, before she met her now husband, Gerard de Thame, which can only be assumed through her industry connections, as he is one of the country's leading advertising executives. The successful pair now share two daughters together, named Emma and Olivia, and are now even grandparents.

Together they share an elegant home in Maida Vale, West London, as well as a charming Grade II-listed manor house in the Cotswolds, the Daily Mail reports. It's believed that their countryside home, dating back to the 1800s, is valued at around £10 million.

In 2018, fans began to notice Rachel's absence from the show, prompting her to share that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. At the Chelsea Flower Show that year, she revealed to fans that she had in fact undergone treatment and was feeling 'optimistic' about her recovery.

She told the BBC at the time: "I'm doing well and coming towards the end of it. It's caught early, so that's all very positive, so on the whole it's better not to be working too much just now."

Since then, Rachel has made a full recovery, and she has opened up about how her time spent in the garden helped her to do this, emphasising the positive impact nature can have on our well-being.