The Great British Bake Off‘s Prue Leith believes age doesn’t and shouldn’t stop women from falling in love as they get older.

The baking judge, 82, married her second husband John Playfair in 2016 after her first husband, author Rayne Kruger, died in 2002.

Leith says women her age don’t have to close off the option for a second shot at love, in fact, many of her friends are remarrying, The Mirror reports.

“It happens a lot. I have a lot of friends who fell in love late in life. I think young people don’t understand,” she said.

“I think they find it embarrassing like old people are not meant to do any of that.

“The funny thing is they will find that when they get older they will feel exactly the same as when they were younger.

“Now, when I fell in love with John it was exactly like it was when I fell in love with my first husband like you panic when you look at your phone or like ‘shall I text’ and all of that. And why wouldn’t it be?”

Leith is adamant women her age should continue living life to the fullest, saying it’s why she likes to add colour to her life.

“Women think it is their duty to be invisible after they are 50 or 60 and I think that is nonsense,” she said.

The chef has been a champion for women over  60, encouraging them to live the life they want.

The grandmother of four wrote for the Daily Mail, saying she was a “really bad nanny” because of her thriving working life.

“But then, what would you expect? I’m a granny as I was a mother, a hard-working main breadwinner with a ton of responsibilities,” she said.

“I don’t think my children, brought up as they were, expect me to be anything different, and I bet many working mums and grans are much the same.

“The problem is society’s expectations haven’t kept up with reality, leaving us with a guilty conscience at not fitting the stereotypical gran sitting in the corner knitting baby clothes.

“Plenty of grannies I know are secretly a bit resentful at being expected to do so much — the school run, babysitting, taxi service, nannying, outings. Parents just assume that is what their mother is for: free childcare.”

Leith was given a damehood in 2021 and is continuing her role as a judge on Bake Off as it heads to the US.