The daughter of actress Nannette Newman and director Bryan Forbes, Sarah grew up visiting her parents on film sets all over the world and even had small parts in their films such as The Whisperers and Raging Moon.

It fostered an early sense of adventure in Sarah, and life was 'always exciting'. With a constant stream of movie stars dropping in for tea and Katharine Hepburn as proxy godmother, it would have been easy for Sarah and her sister Emma to grow up casualties of fame, but her film-star parents were careful not to put pressure on her.

'All they wanted was for us to be happy and fulfilled'

Sarah and Emma were sent to the local school to give them as normal an upbringing as possible. At school, Sarah dreamt of becoming a forensic scientist until she found out that she wasn't any good at maths. Instead, she took up writing and became a journalist, but was never confident.

'I'd try to do interviews but wasn't comfortable asking any awkward questions'

'I would worry about everything and end up being a bundle of neurosis. You don't really know who you are at that age.'

The wilderness years continued until Sarah's 21st birthday when she saw a face she remembered from her childhood. 'I'd first met him on set with my Dad when I was six, but we re-met at my party.' It was actor Sir John Standing, and Sarah ended up working with him on a film script. 'I wasn't that keen on the script, but I found I really wanted to spend time with this man,' says Sarah. John was already in his late 40s.

'But the age gap didn't matter,' says Sarah, 'because I was more mature then him!'

They married and had a baby, India. When she was six week's old, John was asked to star with Robert Wagner in American TV series, Lime Street, and Sarah moved with him to LA. 'I had a new husband, a new baby, and a new life.'

She had two more children and stopped writing. 'I didn't miss it,' she says, 'I even thought about being a mum full time'. But when John's contract ended, they moved back to the UK and Sarah was approached to write again by a friend at Tatler. One of the great things about getting older, believes Sarah, is that you make contacts: 'You have friends all over - especially if you're in an industry like journalism – and the more work you do, the more you get.' The children were at school and the timing was perfect. Sarah hadn't written for eight years but found that she had developed as a writer in her break from the keyboard. I discovered that what I was really good at – and what people would pay money for – was writing from more personal experience.'

'Drawing on my funny, interesting, quirky family for material: I found my voice'

Sarah wrote for the Telegraph, Mail, Tatler, and Evening Standard amongst others and was in demand. But she couldn't be complacent. John was acting and Sarah was freelance, so there was never any guaranteed income and life in the Standing household was, 'feast or famine'. Working from home presented its own challenges as Sarah tried to balance family time with impending deadlines.

'I'd finally get down to writing at 3am and then feel I was short-changing everyone.'

Then five years age, Sarah and her sister (presenter Emma Forbes) set up children's shop, Semmalina, together, and it's here that Sarah now does her writing. 'Two hours each morning before anyone comes in, with a Starbucks vente skinny dry cappuccino with an extra shot.' It is the clearly defined work time that now keeps her sane – as well as the coffee ('I-drink-way-too-much-caffeine' she says, making it all one word and inhaling a further two cups of coffee as we speak).

This set up allows Sarah to spend more time with her other favourite thing: her children. 'I just love them,' she says.

'I love having funny, interesting, untidy, creative teenagers around'

Sarah says that her house, 'often resembles a YMCA,' as the friends of her three children, India, 21, Archie, 20, and Tilly, 16 come and go, 'but we all have some great conversations around the kitchen table – often when I'm getting up in the morning and they're just going to bed.' 'My kids keep me young,' says Sarah, looking great at 43.

'If you're fundamentally happy, I think your looks take care of themselves'

'Unhappiness is very visible.' Living in the cosmetic surgery hub of LA made Sarah appreciate the 'natural beauty' of laughter lines, the odd wrinkle, and ageing gracefully. 'Everyone has their moment in the sun, and it's about passing on the baton graciously.' Sarah says, 'it's my daughters' turn now', and besides, 'I wouldn't want to be 20 again'.

Find out more about Sarah's eclectic clan in AllAboutYou monthly column:

Alpha mother

Cleaning up their act

The teenage birthday party

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