Penny Lancaster, a regular panellist on Loose Women, has apparently resigned down from her role.
Penny joined Judi Love, Nadia Sawalha, and Ruth Langsford in 2014, making guest appearances before becoming a regular.
However, reports say she’s stepping down, though she may continue to appear as a guest.
This follows reports that Penny, 52, and her husband, Sir Rod Stewart, are intending to return to the UK and leave their life in Los Angeles.
A source has now revealed: ‘Penny enjoyed doing the show but it requires a lengthy commitment from regular panel members and this is something Penny cannot do.
‘She’s touring with Rod and also has family commitments both in the UK and abroad.’
The insider added to The Sun: ‘She could still make a guest appearance.’
Penny’s representative, Nicholas Young, said that she will continue to come as a guest and that she ‘loves’ the programme.
He told us: ‘Penny has been approached to appear on the show in September but is only available for one date in the near future; a date that does not work for Loose Women.
‘Penny has just returned from abroad after six weeks away; and she is off to South America shortly. Loose Women and we have agreed to look at the diary again on her return in October.
‘It is obvious that Penny is no longer a regular panellist. This is purely due to other professional and personal commitments.
‘Penny loves the show; and LW loves Penny. But such appearances as she is able to make in the future will be as a guest.’
Her departure claims follow Carol McGiffin’s departure from the show owing to a ‘unjust’ contract disagreement.
She later slammed the broadcast as ‘woke,’ and attacked both Loose Women and ITV.
After departing the show in May, having first been on the panel in 2000, she has called out her former employer, as well as former This Morning co-hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield, stating things were ‘dysfunctional’ behind the scenes.
She also wanted ITV’s CEO to resign after Schofield acknowledged to having a ‘unwise but not illegal’ romance with a younger staffer.
Carol issued a blistering rant during an appearance on GB News, saying: ‘Well put it this way, reading all the comments from the article at the weekend there are a lot of people who think the programme has gone very, very woke.’
She joked that even she doesn’t watch anymore and added: ‘You just don’t have to keep forcing this stuff down peoples’ throats. It’s not just ITV, the BBC is probably worse actually.’
Carol indicated at the time of her departure that she was ‘forced to make’ the decision, which left her “quite upset.”
She wrote in her column for Best magazine: ‘The problem was, ITV were insisting, for the first time since I went back in 2018, that if I wanted to carry on doing the show, I would have to sign a contract that was totally unjust and unworkable for me, so I had to say ‘no thanks.’”
‘No one in their right mind would have signed that contract,’ she continued. ‘And I can’t see a way back from it.’
Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV1.
