I’ve survived the worst days of my life & it’s taught me so much about parenthood and stress, says Myleene Klass
SHE’S got millions in the bank, three beautiful children, a loving partner and a successful career, but I’m A Celeb star Myleene Klass has also endured devastating loss and heartbreak.
After the pain of four miscarriages and a sudden divorce, the pop star-turned-presenter says she has lived through the “worst days” of her life but has finally learned how to cope with hardship.
“I’ve learnt to deal with stress a lot better,” she says.
“I’ve had many stressful situations arise in my life, and it’s about figuring out how to get through those.
“Sometimes you just have to walk through the fire, one step at a time.”
Myleene, who has three children, daughters Ava, 15, and Hero, 12, with ex-husband Graham Quinn and three-year-old son Apollo with fiancé Simon Motson, is determined to show her kids how to work through their problems and lead by example.
She says: “I’ve probably lived through a lot of my worst days and I take some confidence in that.
“When I look at the most stressful times of my life, personal or work, or worrying about the children, or even just sitting in traffic when you’re late, there’s a lot of times you need to sit back and accept it.
“And I’m trying to work on that.
“I’m more aware than ever now I’ve got eyes watching me, little eyes.
“The kids learn how to deal with things from seeing you.
‘Self care is essential’
“I’m really trying to practise the idea of putting the oxygen mask on yourself first so they can see that self care isn’t a bad thing, it’s an essential.”
Myleene, 45, admits she’s had to watch the way she talks about herself in front of the children as a result.
“I found myself saying things like, ‘Oh my God that was so stupid’, or ‘What an idiot,’ and I realised my kids were picking up on that.
“I realised I can’t expect my kids to feel confident in themselves if I’m talking about myself like that.
“You can manifest it and make it seem real.
“You can believe you’re stupid when you’re not.
“So I think it’s also about how I treat myself in front of my children.
“I’ll tell them if I’m going out with my friends, because I need time with the girls. Or I’ll talk about a stressful job.
“I don’t hide anything with them.
“From total elation, I’ll let them see me celebrate that, right through to feeling stressed and emotional. They know it’s OK to see or feel those things.”
Myleene — who we revealed will be a surprise latecomer on I’m A Celebrity . . . South Africa, which starts on Monday — says that although she tries to be a “ninja” to protect her kids, things do become overwhelming.
Speaking on the Walk To Wellbeing podcast, she says: “I cry all the time at the moment.
“It could be extreme tiredness. It could be anything.
“It could be saying goodbye to my son at the school gates.
“There’s a lot of pressure on everyone. Everything feels heightened.
“The good times are more important than ever.”
Myleene has been open about her devastating miscarriages, which happened before she gave birth to Apollo.
Speaking on her moving documentary Miscarriage & Me in 2021, she said: “I remember the despair, grief and anger. And the panic.
“But it wasn’t until I looked back at my diaries that I realised how broken I was.
“By the fourth time, it was just a spiral of absolute terror.”
She has also spoken candidly about her ex Graham, who abruptly ended their six-month marriage on her 34th birthday, after 11 years together.
In 2015, she said: “I felt so betrayed and so crushed, I thought I’d never smile or trust anyone ever again”.
Now content and settled with Simon, a PR executive who she met on a blind date eight years ago, Myleene believes she has finally found true happiness, despite her teary days.
“I think I might have cracked it”, she says.
“I think that happiness is knowing what enough looks like.
“You see people who are really rich and they’re trying to get richer and you see people who don’t have what they want to have and they struggle to get it.
“It’s that scramble, it’s about deciding ‘what would be enough for me’.
“I’m still ambitious and I still want things for myself, to feel the adrenaline of a performance, or to create something.
“But in order to get those things, what do you give up? . . . Your time? Your sanity? Your finances? What impact does it have on your family?”
Myleene admits she struggled with that work-life balance after finding fame in Hear’say, the band created on ITV show Popstars in 2001.
However, being thrown in at the deep end has left her with unexpected skills.
“I was 20 years old and what do you know at 20?,” she says.
“I was signing off contracts, dealing with lawyers, record companies, TV companies, it was huge.
“I was doing these huge deals, not really understanding what I was doing. And when I look back, it was a lot to put on anybody.
“But it’s made me realise if I need to do something, I have the power to do it myself.”
After having two well-behaved daughters, she’s now navigating life with a lively toddler son.
“I take the small wins at the moment,” she laughs.
“Like getting a three-year-old to brush his teeth.
“My girls, they were very different.
“I don’t know if it’s a boy thing but [he] is my ‘three-nager’.
“He does not want to get out of bed at all in the mornings. It’s a nightmare.
“He’s found the power of no.
“I’ve done charts, I’ve done stickers, I’ve done all kinds of blackmail and bribery . . . ”
What could be more daunting than getting a three-year-old out of bed in the morning? The prospect of going back into the jungle perhaps, 17 years after she was runner up?
“I love trying new things,” she says. “And I like to show the kids not to be frightened of trying new things.
“If someone asked me to jump out of a plane, I’d do it. I don’t like sitting still.”