Before her sudden collapse on live television this week, it was safe to say Laura Woods may well have been having the best year of her life.
Just one look at the 38-year-old ITV and TNT sports presenter’s social media reveals a glittering pitchside career, leading coverage of the Champions League, Euros, World Cup and Olympics, and her beautiful young family at home.
It is bursting with wholesome scenes of her fiancé Adam Collard, 30, and their newborn son Leo, who they welcomed in January – and which saw Adam post on Instagram: ‘Reflecting on the last 12 months, we’re doing alright aren’t we x.’
In one post, Laura calls former Love Island star Adam an ‘absolute DILF’ to mark his first Father’s Day: ‘Dad of The Year, no task too big or baby apparatus instructions too complicated.
‘The way you and this little boy adore each other made me realise what it’s all about. Thanks for making my life.’
Indeed, the shocking sight of Laura passing out after suffering a ‘virus’ punctuates what has been a truly stellar year for the ‘national treasure’ – especially after the trauma of dealing with a two-year campaign of harassment by a female stalker.
Harneet Kaur, 25, was jailed for 14 months last year after pleading guilty to stalking, having threatened to kill Laura’s dog, sent Bibles, sexual health tests and food to her home, and abused the star online.
The Liverpool fan, from Walsall, West Midlands, first became obsessed with the presenter in 2021, visiting the street she lived on and sending Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a Starbucks order and a chocolate lollipop to her house.
Laura and her now fiancé Adam went public with their relationship in October 2023 and got engaged on the beach in St Ives, Cornwall, in September last year
The shocking sight of Laura passing out after suffering a ‘virus’ punctuates what has been a truly stellar year for the ‘national treasure’ – especially after the trauma of dealing with a two-year campaign of harassment by a female stalker
A few hours after the worrying moment at St Mary’s Stadium in Southampton, Laura posted a health update for concerned fans to her Instagram story
Harneet Kaur, 25, was jailed for 14 months last year after pleading guilty to stalking, having threatened to kill Laura’s dog, sent Bibles, sexual health tests and food to her home, and abused the star online
A message accompanying the Starbucks order said: ‘From your secret admirer and I’m not crazy.’
Prosecutor Antonie Muller told Wolverhampton Crown Court: ‘Woods did not realise this was to be the start of a campaign against her.’
Kaur’s efforts soon became even ‘darker’, as she bombarded the star with messages and online posts, which continued even after police seized her devices following her arrest and later rearrest in 2022.
One message called her ‘a former prostitute who slept herself into a job’, while one picture of the star she posted to social media was captioned: ‘Wtf is that coke head doing at Anfield.’
Laura said her stalker had ‘an enormous and devastating’ effect on her, with prosecutors adding it left her in ‘real fear’ for her safety, suffering anxiety, and forced to increase her work and home security.
Kaur’s lawyer Balbir Singh said in mitigation: ‘This defendant has never met Laura Woods, she has never spoken to her, she has never approached her – this is why this case is very different to many others that come before the courts.’
On Tuesday night, Laura keeled over during her broadcast of the England Women’s 2-0 friendly against Ghana. Luckily, Ian Wright and Anita Asante were on hand to catch her as the cameras hurriedly cut away – though audio continued capturing Wright asking her, ‘Are you OK?’
Former Olympic swimmer Katie Shanahan stepped in to continue ITV’s coverage alongside Wright and Asante following the incident, saying ‘the wonderful Laura Woods’ had been ‘taken ill’.
‘She’s in very good hands,’ she added, ‘so I’m stepping in at late notice.’
A few hours after the worrying moment at St Mary’s Stadium, Laura posted a health update for concerned fans to her Instagram story, hinting at the need for a well-deserved break.
‘Gosh that was a bit weird. Sorry to worry everyone, I’m OK. The wonderful paramedics at Saints have said it’s probably a virus, just need a bit of rest and hydration,’ she wrote.
Thankfully, her fiancé Adam soon confirmed on X: ‘Laura is all ok and with the right people. Thank you for all of your kind messages.’
To be brought back down to Earth after appearing to rise above the trauma of stalking has not been the only challenge Laura had faced in her rise to stardom.
Born in the east London town of Dagenham and raised in Croydon, her parents – a policeman and special needs teaching assistant – divorced when she was three, leaving her mother to bring up their three children.
Laura was the youngest and only girl, as well as the only girl playing at the local rugby club, where her mother was the only female coach – all of which she has said gave her the strength and confidence needed for her career.
Those qualities have seen her through her lowest points – she confessed last year to struggling with the gruelling schedule of breakfast broadcasting, at the expense of her personal life.
Laura (left, interviewing football manager Jose Mourinho, second right) grew up the youngest and only girl of three children, raised by a single mother – which she has said gave her the strength and confidence needed for her career
Just one look at the 38-year-old ITV and TNT star’s social media reveals a glittering pitchside career and her beautiful young family at home
The pair welcomed their son Leo Ernie Collard in January this year and appear to love life as new parents. Pictured: The couple’s Instagram post announcing their pregnancy
On their two-year anniversary in August, Adam shared a collection of sweet family photos (pictured, a snap of the couple from the post, which shows them at a friend’s wedding)
Laura presented TalkSport’s breakfast show for three years before her departure in 2023, with bleary 3.30am starts and four exhausting hours of live broadcasting at a time leaving her ‘unhappy’ with her work-life balance.
She told The Times: ‘If you don’t have someone to share [things] with, you get sad, you get lonely.’
And to make matters worse, she was suffering incessant trolling about her supposed biological clock online, with even other women taking the time to call her ‘barren’, leaving her often deleting X from her phone and only ever using it to weigh in on the occasional football matter.
In 2023, Laura told the Monday Mile podcast, hosted by Olympic snowboarder Aimee Fuller: ‘I’d love to get all those people in a room and say, “You called me fat, you call me skinny, you said that I am nearly 40 and childless [but] you’re telling me I shouldn’t date this person.”
‘I’ve had it all. Most of the time I don’t let it get to me, but every now and then you go, “Actually this is a bit s***”‘.
Focussing in on her main contracts with both ITV, which began in August 2022, and TNT, which she joined after leaving TalkSport, she had the time for her personal life she had longed for.
Laura and her now fiancé Adam went public with their relationship in October 2023 and got engaged on the beach in St Ives, Cornwall, in September last year, at the luxurious five-star Carbis Bay Estate hotel.
She posted on Instagram at the time, alongside beaming pictures of her and Adam: ‘The place we fell in love and now the place we got engaged, you made it so special. What a summer x.’
The pair welcomed their son Leo Ernie Collard in January this year, after announcing their pregnancy in July last year, with a picture of their beloved French bulldog Lu and their baby scan, captioned: ‘Hey, baby.’
They appear to love life as new parents, taking to Instagram to write gushing posts to mark the landmark moments of their little boy’s first year.
On their two-year anniversary in August, Adam shared a collection of family photos captioned: ‘2 years from soft launch to night feeds.. let’s slow down or I don’t think I’ll survive 10 at this rate aha x.’
His career also seems to be on a similarly upward trajectory, as the founder and owner of his two Sculpt gyms, in his native Newcastle and Ashington, Northumberland, along with an associated online coaching business.
After his stint on Love Island in 2018 aged just 22, where he gained a reputation as a bit of a lothario, Adam seems now to have grown in maturity and settled into family life – which has seen him weather some tough challenges by Laura’s side.
During his appearance on reality show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins in August, he spoke emotionally of a miscarriage Laura had at 11 weeks, shortly after they got together in 2023.
He admitted on the Channel 4 reality show the loss saw him diagnosed with depression: ‘I think I was proud of the fact that I was excited for it, which I didn’t think I ever would be.
‘And when it got taken away, and it was ten times worse for her, I think it hit us like a tonne of bricks.
‘We just really, really went to a bit of a bad place. And to be honest, in front of her I pretended I was cool, and pretended I was absolutely fine.’
Adam’s career also seems to be on a similarly upward trajectory, as the founder and owner of his two Sculpt gyms, in his native Newcastle and Ashington, Northumberland, along with an associated online coaching business. Pictured: The couple in a picture shared as part of Adam’s Instagram post for their two-year anniversary
After his stint on Love Island in 2018 aged just 22, where he gained a reputation as a bit of a lothario, Adam seems now to have grown in maturity and settled into family life – which has seen him weather some tough challenges by Laura’s side. Pictured: The couple in a picture shared as part of Adam’s Instagram post for their two-year anniversary
During his appearance on reality show Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins in August, Adam spoke emotionally (pictured) of a miscarriage Laura had at 11 weeks, shortly after they got together in 2023
Looking back on her life last year, Laura said she was happy she was ‘comfortable and able to support my family’ by the time that stage of her life unfolded. Pictured: The couple in a picture shared as part of Adam’s Instagram post for their two-year anniversary
Her rock-solid relationship appears the cherry on top of a highly accomplished career, which saw her named Sports Presenter of the Year at the Broadcast Sport Awards in 2023. Pictured: Laura presenting coverage of the Paris Olympics last year
Adam later shed tears again as the recruits were asked to write ‘death letters’ to their loved ones.
Reading out his heartfelt speech to Laura, he said: ‘The last few months have been really tough, but nowhere near as tough as you. We lost a baby recently.’
He then started to sob, as his upset co-stars tried to comfort him. He added: ‘I wish I had one more night to give you the world’s biggest cuddle. Love you always, Adam.’
In a piece to camera, Adam praised Laura, saying: ‘I’d say I’m pretty closed off as a person and she definitely helped me to open up.’
Looking back on her life last year, Laura said she was happy she was ‘comfortable and able to support my family’ by the time that stage of her life unfolded.
‘When I look at the order I’ve done things in life I feel I was very deliberate about it, I wouldn’t change anything,’ she said.
Her rock-solid relationship appears the cherry on top of a highly accomplished career, which saw her named Sports Presenter of the Year at the Broadcast Sport Awards in 2023, having won the same title twice before from the Sports Journalists’ Association.
She often shares pictures of her favourite career moments online, like a recent interview with former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho when his current side Benfica took on the Blues in front of their home crowd at Stamford Bridge in September.
Sharing an amusing moment with the coach when he seemingly did not spot her attempt to shake her hand, and accidentally matching outfits with co-host, former England star Joe Cole, Laura wrote playfully on Instagram: ‘Lovely night back at the Bridge twinning with @therealjoecole & getting pied [ignored] by Jose. Night all.’
She also posted on Instagram snaps of her with former England stars Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard while leading TNT’s Champions League coverage this summer
Laura wrote online: ‘Another Champions League Final! What an honour. Thank you for watching & to our amazing crew that look after us.’
And her turn at the helm of Paris Olympics coverage was marked by a glamorous collection of photos, captioned: ‘Oui, j’aime Paris.’
Reality star double act Sam Thompson and Pete Wicks, of Made and Chelsea and The Only Way Is Essex fame respectively, once rather cheekily summed up her appeal when interviewing her on their podcast Staying Relevant.
‘You’re the most loved sports broadcaster in the UK by a long way because you know what you’re talking about, you have fun with it, personality-wise you’re the b******s and a lot of geezers fancy you,’ they concluded.
After some well-deserved rest, long may her hard-earned success continue.
