Stacey Solomon opened up about her career and relationship with her children in an emotional interview
Known for her candidness on screen, the former X-Factor star was recently moved to tears on her popular TV show, Sort Your Life Out with Stacey Solomon. She found that the woman she was assisting declutter a home had been diagnosed with incurable breast cancer.
It’s these raw and honest moments that have endeared Stacey to viewers over the years. But, in a previous conversation with close friend Caroline Hirons on her podcast, Glad We Had This Chat, the 35-year-old opened up about her personal struggles.
Juggling a successful career, multiple TV shows, marriage, and five children, Stacey admitted to feeling torn between different aspects of her life. “I definitely feel like I’m at a pivotal moment in my life,” she confessed in the May 2024 episode, revealing that her eldest son Zachary was on the verge of finishing school.
“I think I’ve come to a point in my life where I recognise that I’ve been really busy for his life, and his life is at a really important point, and my second son will get to that point before I know it.”
She added: “Then I’ve got these three babies; I don’t want to miss what I potentially feel like I missed with my older children. And I want to be there for my older children, who I think need me now more than ever, so I’ve been battling with that in my head.”
Stacey also opened up about her career aspirations and the challenges of balancing work with motherhood. She revealed that each year, she sits down with her agent and team to discuss her career goals.
In a surprising revelation, she shared that her “ultimate dream” is to be a “stay-at-home mum”, which would mean stepping back from her on-screen life. However, she admitted to feeling conflicted as there are other goals she is passionate about and without them, she fears she would feel “unfulfilled.”
Stacey told Caroline that she’s trying to ensure most of her work can be done from home, leaving only passion projects outside of the house. The pair had an honest discussion about the pressures of motherhood and societal expectations of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ mums.
Stacey, who had her first child, Zachary, at 17, before finding fame, confessed that she “dragged Zach up”. She said: “I was like, you are going to get through this situation with me, and we’re going to do this together, and I dragged him through life to make sure that we kept our head above the water.
“I think that makes him a whole different person. If he ever sees me struggling or Joe struggling, he dives in for it; he’s so helpful and so in tune to what other people are feeling. So, actually, I think sometimes what we class as ‘mistakes’ or ‘hardships’ or, you know, whatever builds, it makes them incredible characters.”
Stacey can be seen on our screens in the fifth series of Sort Your Life Out on BBC this Saturday at 11am. You can watch all previous seasons on BBCiPlayer.