Sarah Beeny reveals her marriage is ‘hanging on by fingernails’ after cancer battle in heartbreaking confession

SARAH BEENY has revealed her 20-year marriage hung by the “fingernails” after she beat breast cancer.

The property expert, 51, admitted she and artist husband Graham Swift even agreed they were only still together for the sake of their four teenage boys.

Sarah Beeny reveals her marriage is ‘hanging on by fingernails’ after her cancer battleCredit: PA

Sarah admits Graham has found her hard to live with because she has been ‘horrible’ to him over ‘the last couple of years’Credit: Nicky Johnston/ Outline Productions

Sarah, who was given the all clear six months ago following chemo and a double mastectomy, admits Graham has found her hard to live with because she has been “horrible” to him over “the last couple of years”.

Opening up on her trauma, Sarah said: “We’re hanging on in there by our fingernails. I mean, it’s not easy, is it?

“Graham always said, ‘the day we have to work at our marriage, I’m going to leave’.

“And I was like, ‘really?’ But I think he has had to work at it to be honest.”

Sarah, who was diagnosed with cancer in August last year, spoke about her troubled home life with Gabby Logan, on her podcast The Midpoint.

Sarah recalled a conversation the pair had where they admitted neither wanted to live apart from their children — Billy, 19, Charlie, 17, Rafferty, 15, and Laurie, 13 — so Graham begged Sarah to be “nicer” to him.

The Channel 4 and BBC host admitted: “I was being particularly horrible, because I have been a bit horrible in the last couple of years to be honest at times.”

Of their chat, she added: “I was being particularly horrible, he said, ‘you know the thing is Sarah, you’re not prepared to leave and have your children half the time, and neither am I, so we’re going to stay together.

“And we’re going to stay together happily or unhappily, so which would you like it to be?’

“And I was like, oh that is quite dark, isn’t it?

“He said ‘you wanna be happy or unhappy, because either way we’re still going to live together’, so I was like, ‘OK we’ll do happy then, shall we?’ he was like, ‘what a good idea.

“Maybe you should be a bit nicer?’ I was like, ‘yeah alright I will.’ So logical, isn’t it?”

Sarah last posted a smiling snap with Graham earlier this month as the pair posed to support the Brain Tumour Research charity’s Wear A Hat day.

Continuing on the podcast, Sarah admits she spoke at length about her marital problems with her elder brother Diccon, but her sibling was quick to point out living with her must be tough.

Sarah recalled a conversation the pair had where they admitted neither wanted to live apart from their children

Sarah was given the all clear six months ago following chemo and a double mastectomyCredit: Nicky Johnston

Sarah added: “I rang my brother … and said, ‘right that’s it, Graham’s being so annoying, I think we’re going to split up,’ and he listened to me for ages, yeah, yeah, yeah, he said, ‘I get it Sarah, it must be horrendous being married to him.

“The only thing I think that could be worse is being married to you.’ So I suggest you go and make up! So all is well.”

Sarah and Graham met when she was just 18 after they were set up on a blind date.

They moved from London to the Somerset countryside in 2018 to renovate their new home, a 220-acre sheep farm, which featured on her 2020 Channel 4 documentary New Life In The Country.

Sarah revealed she was fighting cancer in August last year.

She lost her mother Ann to the same disease at the age of 39 when she was just 10. But in April she was able to announce she had the all clear.

But she revealed she did not want to be defined by it — and even asked if she could leave it out of her book The Simple Life: How I Found Home, which was released in the summer.

She said: “I didn’t want to be Sarah-Beeny-who-had-cancer.

“And so I thought gosh I’m writing this book and I actually asked the publishers if I could not put it in, and they said no that’s not really going to work, not putting it in. And I was like ‘really, are you sure?’