Telly star Holly Willoughby says she loves giving birth and reveals she wants a fourth child
This Morning's leading lady opens up on love and childbirth being the ultimate high
HOLLY WILLOUGHBY is on a mission — to convince mums-to-be that childbirth is the ultimate high rather than the supreme test of their pain threshold.
In other worlds, the mother of three is sick of only ever hearing about all the screaming.
The TV presenter, 35, told The Sun: “You only hear one side of the story and that’s not very helpful, and lots of women really enjoy it.
“Don’t get me wrong, there is pain, but it is pain in a different way.
“I have never felt more alive than after I had given birth, and I don’t know what else compares to that.”
This Morning co-host Holly, already has three children with her TV producer husband Dan Baldwin, 40.
But she is so addicted to the buzz of having children that she is tempted to add another to her brood currently made up of Harry, seven, Belle, five, and 20-month-old Chester.
She explained: “I love giving birth weirdly — although actually I shouldn’t say that is weird.
“I don’t want that area of my life to be over because it makes me sad to think I’d not be doing it again.
“I love being pregnant and I love having babies.”
Holly has now written a book about being a new mum, called Truly Happy Baby: It Worked For Me.
In it she shares tips and advice for parents based on her own experiences.
You're always learning and making mistakes
Holly
She said: “When I had my first, Harry, I couldn’t believe there were so many things I wasn’t expecting.
“I kept thinking, ‘Why has no one told me about this? Why is this a massive secret?’
“I thought then that one day I’d write a book called It Worked For Me and put down all those things I’ve stumbled across or realised.
“By the time I had my third child I felt like I had a really good spectrum of different children and different experiences and it felt like it was time to write it all down.”
Youngest son Chester, born in September 2014, turned out to be Holly’s biggest challenge — even though by the time he arrived she thought she had motherhood off pat.
The youngster was born with reflux, meaning he often spat up his milk.
Holly recalled: “I thought I had it sorted but then Chester having this terrible reflux turned that on its head. It was like I had never done it before.
“I had this little baby who was not feeding but screaming and crying all the time and I was just desperate for him.
“I didn’t know what to do. It took me ages to find someone who said that maybe it was reflux.
“Something like that makes you realise that you can’t plan, that you will always be learning and making mistakes.”
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Holly returned to our screens in September after a year’s maternity leave, and was reunited with her on-screen co-presenter and off-screen friend Phillip Schofield.
She says 54-year-old Phil — proud father of Molly, 22, and 20-year-old Ruby — has been something of a parenting guru to her, even though he can sometimes be a big kid himself.
She said: “Phil is such an amazing dad and his two girls are a credit to him. I’ve learned a lot from him, I feel really prepared for when mine are teenagers now.
“Phil and my kids spend a lot of time together. Actually, we were all away on holiday in Portugal over Easter, and Harry and Phil got into a massive waterfight.
"It ended with Harry pushing Phil into the pool. Phil threw Harry’s football boots into the water in retaliation so he’s on the same level as a seven-year-old.”
Phil is such an amazing dad and his two girls are a credit to him
As well as mucking in with her little ones, Phil has also been on hand to help Holly enjoy some “me” time.
That includes their infamous all-night bender after winning the Best Live Magazine Show gong at the National Television Awards in January.
It saw them turn up to the ITV This Morning set the next day having had not a wink of sleep.
Holly said with a grin: “Life is about balance and life is for living. That night with the NTAs, that was a big night for us. It was the biggest award we were ever going to win.
"It is not going to be that long until I am sitting with my grandkids telling them about the night we won an NTA.
“If they say, ‘Nana, did you celebrate?’ I didn’t want to have to say, ‘No I went home because I had work the next day.’
“No way! You need to enjoy these moments and be grateful.”
It was this same seize-the-day attitude which saw Holly do a photo-shoot for the last-ever cover of FHM before the magazine shut down in January.
But she admitted she initially had misgivings about posing.
She explained: “At first I couldn’t get my head around it. I was like — that ship has sailed.
"But actually, in the end, all the reasons I was terrified to do it turned out to be the exact reasons that I did decide to do it.”
While admitting that her body has changed somewhat since she first posed for lads’ mag back in 2008 as a 27-year-old rising star, Holly says she is more proud than ever of how she looks now.
She said: “There is no doubt that your body changes — of course it does.
“But I view my body very differently now. My body gave me three healthy, beautiful, amazing children, and that is incredible.
“My body is the story of my life. All those bits that people talk about and worry about — that is my life story I see in the mirror and I am never going to change that.”
Likewise, parenthood has seen her relationship with husband of nine years Dan transform.
In fact, she says she has “fallen in love all over again” with the Through The Keyhole producer since they have had children.
She added: “Yes we are exhausted and we might not be going out as much as we used to, but we are quite happy sitting at home, putting the kids to bed, chatting, watching Marcella or Line Of Duty, whatever box set. That’s us now.
“I am a different person now that I am a mum. You don’t sweat the small stuff so much and it is the perfect antidote to being selfish.
“It really is the most life-changing thing you can do.”
- Truly Happy Baby: It Worked For Me by Holly Willoughby is published on Thursday by Harper Collins.