Presenter Melanie Sykes has revealed she has not had sex in a year after splitting from her toyboy lover Riccardo Simionato, 25, last year.
Speaking on The Shift, a podcast for women over 40, the former model, 52, spoke about having a string of toyboy lovers, and said that despite a period of celibacy, her libido remains ‘high’.
‘I’ve been written off as some predator for young men,’ she told The Shift, a podcast for women over 40.
‘I don’t have an age, I’m just spirited. And I meet spirited people that I want to whirl around with for a while, while it feels good.
‘When it doesn’t, I’ll whirl around with somebody else.
Last year, Mel ended her romance with gondolier Riccardo Simionato, who was 22 while she was 50.
Before that, she had been married to Jack Cockings, who was 16 years younger than her, and she also dated German golf pro-Martin Kaymer, who was 14 years her junior.
‘It got to a point where I had a few boyfriends on the bounce that were 27,’ she said. ‘So what? I like the energy of a certain age.
‘It’s very rare to meet a man of my age with the energy that I’ve got. And I don’t mean for marathon sex sessions, I mean like life.’
The TV star, who has two children with her first husband, actor Daniel Caltagirone, said she found more ‘respect’ for herself after she endured a period of celibacy.
‘I’ve always had a high libido,’ she said. ‘Because I wanted to have sex with someone, I would. But it wasn’t necessarily good for me, or they weren’t particularly nice people.
‘But if you’re driven by your libido, which men are notorious for and women not so much – which I think is bull**** because I think loads of women just want to get f***** sometimes and there’s nothing wrong with it – but I also realised that I needed a connection.
‘It’s like putting a Band-Aid on something. If you can resolve an argument with a really great session of sex, it doesn’t mean the problem has gone.
‘And I thought if I withdraw the sex, then the problems I can just avoid.
‘And so I’ve just avoided. And after a year I was so much more understanding of myself and had more respect for myself.
‘I won’t lay with anyone that isn’t my equal ever again. It’s as simple as that because I don’t like casual sex. I tried it, I don’t like it.
‘But it doesn’t stop me wanting to have sex because that’s just me being a full-on woman who likes it. What’s wrong? There’s nothing wrong with it.’
She also defended Leonardo DiCaprio over his reported penchant for dating women under 25, claiming it is ‘normal’.
‘He’s got a type. He likes them that age,’ she added.
