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Great British Bake Off Presenter Mary Berry would 'love' her children to 'give her a pill' and euthanase her if she became a burden

'I have no remaining ambitions,' the 79-year-old presenter said of her life. 'I want to continue to be a good granny and a good wife.'

Jenn Selby
Tuesday 02 September 2014 11:13 BST
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A piece of cake: 'Mary Berry Cooks'
A piece of cake: 'Mary Berry Cooks'

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Mary Berry has said that she has "no desire to be a centenarian and would rather her children helped her to die is she became too much for them to care for.

The Great British Bake Off judge, who is 79, added that the age of "90 is a great time" to opt out of life.

"You have to deal with the cards that have been dealt, of course, but I don't think very old age, if you haven't got your marbles, can be very nice," she told the Radio Times.

"I have no desire to be a centenarian. I think 90 is a great time. You've had a good innings.

"My mother was in very good health until the last few months. And health is key, isn't it?"

Voicing her opinions on Lord Falconers' assisted dying bill, that proposes allowing doctors to prescribe a lethal dose to terminally ill patients judged to have less than six months to live, she continued: "I certainly don't want to be a burden, although under British law you can do nothing about it.

"But I would love my children to be able to give me a pill, although of course I do understand that could be abused."

She went on to discuss the end of her own mother’s life at 105.

"She was very cross that everyone kept dying around her - 'Another member of the bridge team gone', that sort of thing.

"She drove her car until she was 95, when we had to persuade the doctor to say she couldn't do it any longer."

"I have no remaining ambitions," she concluded on her own life.

"I want to continue to be a good granny and a good wife. My great privilege is that I can say 'no' to things, so I only do what I love. And I really do love Bake Off - they're my other family."

Berry is next set to appear on BBC family discovery programme Who Do You Think You Are?.

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