BBC newsreader Sophie Raworth fought back tears live on TV

NEWSREADER Sophie Raworth has told how she struggled to fight back tears during the broadcast of a heart-wrenching bulletin.

The 44-year-old BBC news presenter who is preparing to run the New York Marathon with former Breakfast presenter Sian Williams, said she had to dig her nails into her fingers to stop herself from crying on-air.

Speaking of a recent news bulletin relating to the deaths of a number of Belgian children in a bus crash, she explained: “I got really upset by the recent story about the Belgian schoolchildren who died in a coach crash on their way back from a skiing trip.

“You have to remain professional when you’re reading the news, but I was literally digging my nails into my fingers to stop myself crying.

“As a mother myself, that struck me very personally.”

Raworth said of her own three children: “[They] couldn’t be more disinterested in what I do.

“Whenever they’re asked if they’d like to see mummy on the TV they only say ‘yes’ to get the telly switched on, then change channel to something they want to watch.”

The presenter, whose children are aged seven, six and four, completed the London Marathon this April in under four hours after collapsing during the previous year’s event.

Asked if she had “got the running bug”, she replied: “I must have because I’m going to run the New York Marathon with Sian Williams.

“She had a nightmare in that one 11 years ago, ending up in hospital because she drank too much water.

“I got ill in the 2011 London Marathon for drinking too little.

“I find it (running) liberating. My life is spent juggling work, home and kids but running is my own time.”