Alex Hollywood will keep her marital name following her divorce from Paul Hollywood for the sake of her son.
The 55-year-old cookery writer split from the ‘Great British Bake Off’ judge in 2017 and was granted a decree nisi – the first stage of a divorce – by a judge in July 2019.
Alex – who married the star in 2001 – has no intention of reverting to her maiden name following her legal separation from Paul, 53, because she wants to share the same surname as the former couple’s 17-year-old son Josh because she is proud to be his mum.
In an interview on ‘Loose Women’ on Thursday (12.12.19), she said: "I’ve been Hollywood for nearly 20 years and you kind of grow into that name, more importantly yes I’m getting divorced but I’m not divorcing my son. He’s a Hollywood and I’m his mum, I’m not going to get rid of his name."
Alex likened the experience of marriage and divorce to 1970s children’s character Mr. Benn who transformed from a bowler hat-wearing Englishman into a variety of different personas thanks to a magical shop in a series of books and an animated TV series.
She explained: "Another thing with girls we’re kind of like Mr. Benn. He would go into a room and he would come out as something else and he’d go back into the room and come out as something else. "So I went into a room and I came out as as Hollywood, I’m not going to go back into the room and change into something else. I am Alex Hollywood, I write as Alex Hollywood and I am Josh Hollywood’s mum and that’s the person I am now, that’s the person I’ve grown into and that’s the person I’m going to stay.
"People can what they want but I know what’s right for me and I know what’s right for my son."
Alex has not been in a relationship since separating from Paul but admits that Josh has been trying to convince her to start dating again because he is worried that she will be lonely when he heads off to university in September 2020.
However, the TV cook is in no rush to find a man and is enjoying being single and spending time with her friends.
She said: "He keeps saying, ‘What about this mum?’ What about that?’ But I think it’s to do with the fact that he’s off to university in September and we’re going through that uni thing. I think he’s worried about that, but I actually have a very exciting social life, I’ve got wonderful girlfriends, who are fantastic and I think, for me, the most important thing is I find out who I am first, I can’t be any good with anyone else unless I’m good with me and I’m getting there.
"I’m quite happy being me and I’m loving going out and I’m getting all sorts of invites to go here, there and everywhere and I’ve got a lot planned for 2020. If it happens lovely, but I’m not like a handbag that’s been left on the tube that needs to be picking up. I don’t need somebody to say, ‘I’ll have that one, that’s alright.’ I don’t need that."
During her interview on the ITV daytime show, Alex refused to blame Paul for their break-up but did admit that going through a divorce is a "horrible" experience.
She said: "Life is good actually, it’s been a difficult couple of years, it has been tough but anyone going through divorce is going to understand that.
"It’s horrendous, it’s horrible. It’s a hard, sad thing to go through and you have to go through the whole thing from start to finish but you do get through it."
Alex Hollywood is keeping marital name for her son
