SECRET STRUGGLE
Steve Wright’s hidden heartbreak after divorce from wife Cyndi Robinson and BBC star’s struggle to find new love
The pair were together for over two decades
STEVE Wright struggled to find romance after his divorce because he was so dedicated to his job.
The long-time BBC Radio DJ has died at the age of 69 after hosting shows for more than four decades.
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Steve married Cyndi Robinson in 1972 and the pair were together for over two decades — before they divorced in 1999.
At the time, it was reported the divorce was "on the grounds of a two-year separation".
The disc jockey's agents said the couple had led separate lives for nearly four years.
They added that there was no third party involved in the split-up.
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Yet a friend of the radio presenter told The Mirror: "It came out of the blue. Cyndi just said, 'That's it. I'm off."
The father-of-two reportedly ordered takeaway meals and spent much of his spare time working on perfecting his show.
And Steve admitted in July 2019 spending so much time at work left him with no time to find a new partner.
He said: "I work on an afternoon show on the BBC and I do a love songs show at the weekend and it means that I do a lot of interviews and I prep a lot and I write a lot.
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"So I have to work all the time."
He was on the air five days a week for three hours and another two on Sunday for his pre-recorded Love Songs show.
Sara Cox’s tribute to Steve Wright who tragically died had been on air just days ago
Steve met Cyndi while working with DJ Mike Read at independent radio station in Reading in 1976.
She was a local newspaper journalist who had been sent to interview the pair and it did not appear to go well.
Steve said: "Thinking us a couple of silly DJs, she did not want to do it and was fairly hostile and aggressive.
"I was attracted to that. I thought, 'Great, give us some stick'."
Any hopes of romance were scuppered by a move to Radio Luxembourg.
He returned to Britain in 1980 to join Radio 1 and pursued Cyndi once more.
But unable to propose marriage in person, Steve did it live on air in 1983.
Steve said: "I was, for some reason, a bit shy about doing it in real life. She was driving when she heard the proposal.
"She couldn't find a phone box, only an AA box. So she called the AA and asked them to phone me and tell me, 'yes'.
"I didn't plan to do what I did. It was just reckless adrenaline."
The couple made a home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, and had two children, Lucy, 29, and Tom, 36.
Wright was one of the most familiar voices on the airwaves in the UK after joining the BBC in the 1970s.
He was also a long-standing presenter of Top Of The Pops on BBC One.
A statement shared to the broadcaster by Wright's family said: "It is with deep sorrow and profound regret that we announce the passing of our beloved Steve Wright.
"In addition to his son, Tom, and daughter, Lucy, Steve leaves behind his brother, Laurence and his father Richard.
"Also, much-loved close friends and colleagues, and millions of devoted radio listeners who had the good fortune and great pleasure of allowing Steve into their daily lives as one of the UK's most enduring and popular radio personalities.
"As we all grieve, the family requests privacy at this immensely difficult time."
The broadcaster joined BBC Radio 1 in 1980 to host a Saturday evening show before moving on to host Steve Wright In The Afternoon a year later until 1993.
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Wright then fronted the Radio 1 Breakfast show for a year until 1995, and completed a stint at commercial radio stations before returning to BBC Radio 2 in 1996 to host Steve Wright's Saturday Show and Sunday Love Songs.
In 1999, he recreated Steve Wright In The Afternoon every weekday on Radio 2, with celebrity interviews and entertaining trivia featured in his Factoids segment, before stepping down in September 2022.
Former BBC Radio 1 host Scott Mills took over the afternoon slot as part of the station's schedule shake-up.
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Wright continued to present Sunday Love Songs on BBC Radio 2 and since October last year, he presented the long-running show Pick Of The Pops, which had previously been fronted by Paul Gambaccini.
From bullied schoolboy to BBC legend
By Jane Matthews
STEVE Wright went from being a bullied schoolboy cruelly dubbed 'Big Nose' to a BBC radio legend.
Wright was born in Greenwich, London and attended Eastwood High School in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
It was there that he was cruelly nicknamed Big Nose and Concorde.
His first job after leaving school was in marine insurance but after three years he realised it wasn't for him.
It was then that Wright left to become a local newspaper reporter.
This led him to BBC, as a record librarian, which then went on to his own shows - and the rest was history.
But in 2022 he announced he was stepping back from his Afternoon show after more than two decades.
He said at the time: "Before we start the show proper, if I may, I'd just like to say thank you ever so much for all the messages that have come in, over the weekend after I announced on Friday on the afternoon that we are leaving the afternoon show."
The axing saw him take another step towards his Sunday Love Songs show - which he last appeared on just days ago.
Wright appeared on air on Sunday, hosting a pre-recorded special Valentine's Day edition of his Love Songs programme.
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