Yvette Fielding was born on the 23rd September 1968 in Manchester, where she was raised in Stockport. She went on to become one of the biggest names in British television, going on to present Blue Peter, Most Haunted, Ghosthunting With…, and more.
She is currently starring on ITV’s 2015 series of I’m A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here, swiftly becoming one of the nation’s favourite jungle stars.
But what do we really know about Yvette Fielding?
Look this way…
YVETTE FIELDING’S FIRST GHOST
Yvette began believing in the supernatural in the 1970s, after seeing a ghostly apparition in her bedroom.
"One night I was woken by a glowing figure in the corner of my room. It was that of a soldier but only from the waist up. It seemed to last for about a minute just looking at me and then vanished.
"When I did some research about the property I found out that a soldier had fallen on the railway line that was at the end of our garden and been cut in two by a passing train. That was very strange and made me want to find out more.
"The other strange thing is that no one in that particular road, which contained about 6 houses, had much peace in their lives; some said that they too saw apparitions while others experienced some awful tragedies. The road now is almost abandoned."
YVETTE FIELDING’S CHRONIC SKIN CONDITION
When Yvette was 11-years-old, she learned that she had vitiligo - the same skin disease that had damaged her mother’s confidence.
Speaking to The Mirror about her condition, she said: “Vitiligo causes white patches to develop on your skin and kids can be cruel. After that, I was called Acid Face and Giraffe at school.
“I’d inherited my lovely olive skin from my grandmother, who’s from Cyprus, but all that changed with the vitiligo, and over the next 11 years it spread quite quickly, first over my hands and arms, then my knees and torso, until it gradually covered my whole body.”
By the age of 21, Yvette’s body was completely white and she had lost all the pigmentation in her hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes, so she has to dye them regularly.
She has to take care to apply suncream thoroughly, as she is more prone to burning, and she also has wear special antiglare sunglasses.
YVETTE FIELDING ON BLUE PETER
At 17-years-old, Yvette Fielding became the youngest ever presenter on Blue Peter when she joined the show on 29th June 1987. She went on to be nominated for the SOS Award for the Most Popular Woman on Television, competing against the likes of Cilla Black, Victoria Wood and Kylie Minogue for the prize.
And, yup, you guessed it - she won!
Speaking about her most humiliating experience on the show, Yvette said: “The editor decided it would make a good feature for me to strip off live on camera and show everybody my patches for a feature on vitiligo.
“I was only 17 and so embarrassed, but we got sacks full of post from young children with skin disorders, saying I’d stopped them from being afraid to go out, so she was right.”
YVETTE FIELDING’S TV CAREER AFTER BLUE PETER
After five years of Blue Peter, Fielding co-hosted What's Up Doc?, a Saturday morning children's show on ITV.
From 1995, she went on to present The Heaven and Earth Show, The General and City Hospital for the BBC. She was a regular host of Karaoke Challenge and contributed weekend continuity for Challenge TV. Fielding also appeared in the ITV game show Win, Lose or Draw in 1995 and 1996.
YVETTE FIELDING’S HUSBAND, KARL BEATTIE
When Yvette was working on a live show, BBC’s ‘City Hospital’, she met Karl Beattie. They were engaged within 6 weeks (during a live broadcast!) and married within 6 months.
Both Karl and Yvette had wanted to start a production company to put their ideas into practice and so Antix Productions was born – and their first idea was ‘Most Haunted’…
YVETTE FIELDING AND MOST HAUNTED
Most Haunted was first shown on Living TV between 25 May 2002 and 21 July 2010 - and proved to be a phenomenal hit with fans of the paranormal.
Yvette and Karl, along with a team of paranormal investigators, would spend the night in haunted locations across the UK - and often recorded evidence of poltergeists, possessions, and more.
On 12 August 2011, it was announced that Sky Living had officially axed Most Haunted and had returned the rights to the show to Yvette Fielding and Karl Beattie.
After four years off the air, the couple confirmed that the show would return in 2014 - much to the delight of fans everywhere!
YVETTE FIELDING AND MOST HAUNTED CONTROVERSY
Most Haunted came under scrutiny in 2005 after resident parapsychologist, Dr Ciaran O'Keeffe claimed the public were being deceived by "showmanship and dramatics".
He took aim at the show’s medium, Derek Acorah, revealing that he had fed him misinformation about fictional spirits in one Most Haunted location - and that Derek had still appeared to become ‘possessed’ by the fake ghosts.
The show was cleared of fraud by the regulator, who said it was produced for "entertainment purposes".
Speaking to the Daily Star, Yvette insisted that she doesn't take any notice of the criticism.
"Opinions are like bottoms, everybody has one. I really don’t take too much notice of comments from the disingenuous," she said.
"The great thing is that the show has three types of viewers: the paranormal investigators and they love it; the people who watch it purely for the entertainment value of seeing us scream, run and argue, and then there are those who watch it because they can’t stand it, but watch it nonetheless."
YVETTE FIELDING’S CHILDREN
Yvette and Karl have one daughter, Mary, together. Yvette also has a son, William, from her first marriage to Barry Sweeny.
YVETTE FIELDING AND REALITY TELEVISION
Yvette appeared on Celebrity Stars in their Eyes in 2005, as Annie Lennox, wowing the audience with her breathtaking performance.
She makes regular appearances on programs such as The Paul O'Grady Show, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Hell's Kitchen and Richard & Judy, amongst many other viewer favourites.
Yvette and her husband have also appeared in a full-length series about their lives together, entitled In Bed with Yvette & Karl. The show focused on her hysterectomy, their marriage, and more.
She is currently appearing on the 2015 series of ITV’s I’m A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here!
YVETTE FIELDING’S HAUNTED HOUSE
Yvette and Karl live in a 17th century home in Sandbach, Cheshire, with Mary and William.
Speaking about her haunted house, she told the Mail Online: “There are plenty of signs that we live in a haunted house. The kitchen chairs move by themselves, for example. Sometimes we go to bed and when we come down in the morning the chairs have been placed against the kitchen door and you have to push to get in.
“Friends have seen ghosts here, but I never have. I keep thinking we should leave some cameras on at night to catch the chairs moving, but I don't want to bring my work home - I do that all day in other places.”