LADY SHIRLEY CONRAN: Why I Suddenly Stopped Having Sex – At 89: The Bonkbuster Queen Takes Our Health Quiz In This Week’s Under the Microscope

Every week, a famous celebrity reveals all in our health questionnaire.

Here, queen of the bonkbuster Dame Shirley Conran reveals how she suddenly gave up sex – at the age of 89.

And why she always uses a size for her gin and tonic at lunch.

Can you run up the stairs?

No. In 2021 I had hip surgery and since then I have not been able to stand for long, let alone run.

Do you get five a day?

Certainly not. I think five a day is marketing nonsense.

I have a boiled egg in the morning and a good meal in the afternoon, with a gin and tonic.

I always have a piece of fruit with tea (today a large orange) and an open sandwich in the evening.

My favorite vegetable is spinach, barely cooked with a spoonful of cream.

Ever been on a diet?

I used to be a size 10 on top and 12 on the bottom, and 6 feet tall.

I am now 6 feet tall.

I’m not worried about my weight because a few years ago I was prescribed steroids and turned into Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

The steroids are for COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).

It means that sometimes I have trouble breathing.

When I was an art student, I smoked cheap Woodbines to be like everyone else.

I didn’t know I was breathing death.

Are there vices?

Because my father was an alcoholic, I always use a measure for my gin.

Family problems?

My father died at the age of 59 from liver sclerosis.

My mother was 97 when she died after a fall.

I inherited asthma from my father, as did my brother Charles, and he died of an asthma attack when he was 76.

My brother Jason died of an ulcer and my sister Juliet of cancer.

My sister Isabel and brother Richard are still alive; I’m the oldest.

Worst illness/injury?

I have had chronic fatigue syndrome (or CFS/ME) since I was 37.

I went to the hospital with viral pneumonia and came out with it.

I was Women’s Editor of the Mail and I had to stop working regular hours, so I wrote Lace, to make money, as I had two young children.

I sometimes lay in bed for two months, in a darkened room.

Everyone has to whisper to you, because normal talking hurts your ears, and daylight hurts your eyes.

All you can do is lie there and suffer.

Taking pills?

I took HRT when I was 57, but after six weeks my gynecologist stopped taking it because I was starting to look like Humpty Dumpty.

I also use something called levetiracetam; I have no idea what it is for, and risedronate and spironolactone.

Whoever invented the blister pack deserves a knighthood.

Ever had something removed?

A benign lump the size of a tennis ball in my head in 2020 – they only told me after the operation that they were surprised I had survived.

I had to learn to talk, eat and drink again.

Ever had plastic surgery?

When I was 14, I looked at my mother’s neck and I thought, ‘I’m going to get a neck job when I’m 50.’

So I did.

Dealing well with pain?

Yes, I had a wisdom tooth pulled and eye surgery, both without anesthesia.

Is sex important?

It was important until I turned 89.

Then overnight it stopped, bingo, no response.

Alternative remedies?

I take a vitamin recommended by Helen Mirren on TV.

Ever been depressed?

I was depressed when I came out of hospital with ME.

And the doctor said there was nothing wrong with me.

They thought I had gone crazy.

Hangover medicine?

I don’t have hangovers because I don’t drink that much.

What keeps you awake at night?

Being worried about. I currently have four lawsuits pending.

Dame Shirley Conran is co-curator of the St Paul’s Girls’ School Collection of Modern Art that opens next fall.