Kim Wilde is feeling as vibrant at 65 as ever as she opens up on touring, music being in her DNA and deep conversations about ageing with the late David Bowie
10:00, 28 Mar 2026Updated 11:22, 28 Mar 2026
Kim says her 60s are her best decade yet, as she finally ‘knows herself’
When we catch up with music icon Kim Wilde for a chat on Zoom, the age-defying star’s living room, in her 16th century barn in Hertfordshire, is projecting colourful stars and planets onto the wall and ceiling.
“Oh yes, it’s pretty celestial”, laughs the warm, softly-spoken Kids In America hitmaker. “The light projector was a present from my son, a few Christmases ago – it just makes the place look a bit more… interesting!”
Speaking of making things interesting, Kim has never chosen to play it safe when it comes to her over four-decade career. Shooting to fame in the 80s, she then took a step back when it all got too much – and developed a whole new career in gardening, which she admits, ‘saved her’ at a tough time.
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Kim shot to fame aged 20 with Kids In America
Her varied career has seen her tour with Michael Jackson and David Bowie(Image: ullstein bild via Getty Images)
But when that also became ‘too intense’, she found her way back to her first love, music – and a 13-date UK Singles Tour, with support from I Think We’re Alone now singer Tiffany, has just been announced for March 2027.
“I love touring in the UK; there’s nothing quite like a home crowd, especially finishing at the Palladium”, says the mum-of-two, whose latest album, Closer, came out last year.
“I’ll be performing all my best-known songs, so people should remember most of them! There’s definitely a strong emphasis on the 80s.”
The audience, she adds, has also evolved over the years, and she often sees three generations of the same family at gigs. And just sometimes, she does pinch herself that she’s still doing what she does into her 60s.
“Sometimes, I’m thinking, ‘This is crazy — I’m a 65‑year‑old woman running around the stage’ and it makes me giggle. But it’s more, wow, I’d never have believed this if you told me when I was 20.
“I remember when I was much younger hearing about Olivia Newton‑John turning 30 and thinking, “Well, she had a good career – like 30 was so old!”
But there’s been a revolution since then, she reflects – and that old cliche, ‘age is just a number’ has never been more true.
The mum of two still ‘adores’ life on the road as she limbers up for a UK tour(Image: Getty Images)
“That whole perception of what a woman should do, or look like ‘at a certain age’ has totally dissolved. People look after themselves better, they’re more aware of how to keep strong.”
Still, hitting the road at 65 must be very different to doing it in your 20s. But Taylor Swift megafan Kim says, “I love being on the road. And I have the energy for it. I have a personal trainer and do cold water dips with a girlfriend, even in winter.
“I’ve got an upright pool that the kids had growing up. It’s just a cold water pool but we put wetsuits on and dive in. The endorphins – you come out feeling amazing.”
Kim also quit alcohol ten years ago. “I’d enjoyed a drink since I was 16, so I thought it would be interesting to see what life would be like without it. I loved it so much, I never went back.”
Kim comes from a famously musical family – her dad is rock legend Marty Wilde, her younger brother Ricky has long been her chief co-songwriter and she tours and writes with her niece, Scarlett – which she says brings a gorgeous dynamic to things.
“She introduces me to new music, we’ve been writing for a new album for next year. I’m inspired by her – and she believes in me.”
At 86, dad Marty, who suffered severe heart failure in 2020 but made a full recovery after having a pacemaker fitted, couldn’t be better.
She shares two grown-up children with ex-husband, Hal Fowler(Image: PA)
Dad Marty, still performing at 86, is an ‘inspiration’
“He’s doing Zoom interviews, he’s gigging and really strong. He’s pure inspiration. I think, for all of us in our family, music keeps us young and feeling alive.”
Music has always been in Kim’s DNA. She remembers listening to the Beatles as they drove up to see grandparents in Liverpool, and penning songs on her guitar as a child.
“Then, in the ’70s when I was a teenager, we’d all sit down together to watch Top of the Pops, with the likes of David Bowie – it was amazing.”
Little did she know, Kim would go on to tour with the Thin White Duke in the summer of 1990, as the opening act for his European Sound & Vision Greatest Hits tour.
She remembers him being ‘very gracious, and very tall” – as well as being in his dressing room and handing him a Marty Wilde T-shirt, the last night of the tour. “We both had a laugh about that!”, she smiles.
Has she had any overly-enthusiastic fans over the years? Kim does remember one male fan back in the 80s that kept turning up at her house, wanting to propose, she laughs. “It was just very funny. But no, I haven’t had too many problems with very fanatic people. My encounters are generally very lovely.”
Kim recalls one zealous fan who wanted to ‘marry her'(Image: Jason Roberts /Manchester Evening News)
The singer married actor and writer Hal Fowler in 1996, after the pair met while co-starring in the musical Tommy. They went on to have two children together, Harry Tristan, now 28, and Rose Elisabeth, 26 – but announced their amicable separation in 2022, after 25 years of marriage.
Harry, she says proudly, is a musician with the band Wonder Horse, but she doesn’t give him any tips on the music business. “He does his own thing, and does it very well!”
Now grown-up, her children are all so busy that they’re like ‘ships in the night’. But when they do all find themselves home at the same time, she says, it’s wonderful.
“I love it. But it’s rare to see them these days. It’s not like when they were little, and I was running around after them, making meals.”
Kim, who is happily single, previously called her 60s a “glorious decade”, admitting she knows herself better now than ever, as she shares another special memory of the Starman.
“I remember speaking to Bowie about ageing. He was talking about how it’s really frustrating that you only truly know yourself in your 60s – and how he wished he could have known his true self better when he was younger. That’s quite sad, considering he only reached 69.”
For Kim, finally embracing who she is, is the ‘biggest lesson” she’s learned in her seventh decade. “I feel like I own my own life, honestly. And I’m really looking after myself to make sure that I reflect that on the outside.”
The star admits she ‘loves herself’ more now than when she first rose to fame(Image: Getty Images)
She adds, “Your 60s are great. People tend to bristle when you talk about ‘loving yourself’, like it’s a bad thing to do. It’s not – it’s an essential thing to do. I was very hard on myself, especially in the 80s. But you can’t love someone unless you love yourself. I’m understanding what that actually means now. It’s profound.”
Kin easily looks at least a decade younger, and maintains much of her youthful looks is down to good genes. “I’m lucky. I got my mum and grandma’s great skin.I don’t think I’ll be going down the vortex of Botex, or procedures either. The thought terrifies me. What if you wake up and don’t like it? I’ll suck it up and work with what God gave me!”
Gardening, when she finds the time, is still a huge passion. “I took it up when I felt music had just… lost its flavour for me.. and that’s when it really took off. I ended up doing TV shows and the Chelsea Flower Show, winning a gold medal…
“It ended up a new career, which became a bit overwhelming, too. So I stepped back into my old job, but I’m still a gardener. When life gets tough, which it does for all of us – the garden’s where I go. It heals me.”
Tickets for Kim Wilde’s Singles Tour in March 2027 are on sale now. See www.kimwilde.com .
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