I won’t take any maternity leave… Spencer will stay at home with baby No2, says Vogue Williams
RADIO presenter Vogue Williams is due to give birth this month, but she is not going to let breastfeeding or nappy changing get in the way of her job.
Vogue, who is married to former Made In Chelsea cast member Spencer Matthews, revealed she is not planning to take any maternity leave.
She will head off to present her breakfast show on Heart Radio every Sunday confident she can juggle her career commitments — and in her husband’s ability to look after a new-born baby girl and their 21-month-old son Theodore.
The 34-year-old, who lives in London with Spencer, says: “I love working at Heart and I really want to just carry on.
“If I was in an office working nine to five I would probably want to take some time off, but I’m lucky in the way I work — I leave my house at 4.50am and I’m back by 9.20am so Spenny will be on baby duty while I go out to work.
“I can come back home to my babies having only missed one feed. I could bring the baby with me to do the show — they’re really good like that at Global (owners of Heart Radio) and if I wanted to they would support me doing it. But I don’t think I’ll need to.
“Obviously, it depends on the birth I have but I can’t imagine I’ll need to take too much time off.”
The key to keeping things ticking along will be routine and making sure the new baby gets a good sleep — and that’s where Vogue turns to sleep guru Lucy Wolfe.
Vogue says: “I’ve been re-reading her book in preparation. I found that having Theo in a routine as soon as possible really worked for us so I’ll definitely do that again.
“Having the sleep under control is imperative to me. A child who likes sleep is like gold dust.”
PREGNANCY IN THE PANDEMIC
Vogue’s lockdown pregnancy has meant Spencer, 31, has not been able to attend any of his wife’s check-ups or scans. And while he will be allowed to attend the birth, restrictions mean he will probably have to go home shortly afterwards.
But Vogue is taking it in her stride. She says: “I’m lucky it’s not my first because I would have found it more upsetting, but we’ve been here before and you just have to get on with it.
“Spencer can be at the birth which is great so I’m not stressing. We’re just seeing what happens. If all goes well and we’re fit and healthy, I’ll come home as soon as I can.
“For the most part, people are having it way tougher than me. There are people who have been furloughed or lost their jobs or lost family and friends to coronavirus. So in the grand scheme of things I’ve been lucky compared with what others have been through.”
Vogue has been hit by severe sickness while carrying her baby and is now controlling it with medication, as she is still suffering at eight months.
I hate complaining about it because I feel so lucky to be pregnant, but I’ll be honest — I don’t love it.”
Vogue Williams
She says: “I don’t enjoy being pregnant. I’m still on morning sickness tablets so it’s been a lot worse this time. Just the feeling of nausea constantly. It went away at 19 weeks and it came back around three months ago and I couldn’t believe it. I’ve also got that pelvic girdle pain as well, so that’s not fun either. I hate complaining about it because I feel so lucky to be pregnant, but I’ll be honest — I don’t love it.”
But sickness hasn’t stopped Vogue from working out, just as she did with Theo right up until the day before he was born. She documents many of her workouts on Instagram.
FAMILY SUPPORT
Vogue, from Portmarnock, near Dublin, found fame on Fade Street — Ireland’s version of The Hills.
She has missed having family support for the past few months. She is hoping restrictions ease soon — the prospect of having two children under two means the family could certainly do with the extra pairs of hands.
She says: “My mum has a flight booked (from Ireland) and she’s hoping to be able to come over depending on what’s happening. And Theodore starts nursery a few mornings a week from September so that will help.
“I’ve not seen my mum since before Christmas. We were in St Barts (in the Caribbean) for Christmas and January and then it was lockdown not long after we got back. We’ve missed huge chunks of people’s lives. It’s tough.”
SOCIAL DISTANCING
Vogue faced criticism on social media after attending the Cheltenham Festival just before lockdown back in March, an event many felt should never have gone ahead.
At the time, she defended her decision to go but, with the benefit of hindsight, now says the meeting should have been cancelled.
She says: “Everyone is entitled to their opinion but looking back, I don’t think big gatherings like that should have happened. We weren’t in lockdown then and that’s why it went ahead. I don’t think we’ll have big gatherings like that again for quite some time.
“I’ve stuck by the rules. We’ve been super careful because we didn’t want to risk giving it to anyone we know and certainly not our parents. They’re a bit older and in a more vulnerable group so we’ve, quite rightly, kept our distance.
“I also drive myself to work to avoid contact with people, and each studio is sanitised before you enter. I have one producer with me and we’re two metres apart.”
LOCKDOWN LOVE
Before meeting Spencer on Channel 4’s The Jump in 2017, Vogue was married to Westlife’s Brian McFadden for three years before they split in 2015.
After meeting Spencer, things moved pretty quickly, with a wedding the following June and Theo arriving three months later. But lockdown has brought the couple even closer together.
Vogue says: “I’ve honestly enjoyed every day with him. I don’t like being on my own so in a lot of ways it’s been ideal for me. Before lockdown, either he’d be working away or I was, so we’ve had a really nice time being together and we’ve managed not to get under each other’s skin.
“I think we had one little argument about the cleaning right at the start and that was it.”
FAMILY VALUES
With her Instagram squares full of family pictures, it is clear to see how happy with her lot Vogue is and she says lockdown has given her more time to reflect.
She says: “A lot of us are in the same boat in realising that we fill our lives with too much and it’s been nice to take a step back and do less. I’m always go, go, go with never a moment to stop — never enough time to think.”
She is also a fan of Spencer’s more rugged quarantine look, adding: “He has very good hair, but he looks good with a skinhead, doesn’t he? It suits him.”
GIGS ON HOLD
Spencer and Vogue were in talks with E4 for a third series of their successful reality show but that has been put on hold. She confides that she has lost other work besides that, but the couple have other interests.
Spencer runs his alcohol-free drinks brand Clean Liquor and Vogue’s fake tan range Bare has a permanent UK base.
She says: “We’ve both been busy and getting the Heart job was amazing. I thought that because I was pregnant and there was a pandemic I was never going to get it, so it was very unexpected when it happened.
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“Who knows when TV is going to come back properly? I was meant to be doing three other shows and all of them have been cancelled. I know people are trying to figure things out so fingers crossed, but I can’t see a time soon when all this is going to be back to normal.
“I think this year has been a massive eye-opener for a lot of people. I like to be optimistic that things will change for the better. I hope it will make people appreciate family, friends and doing less. It’s definitely going to change the way we all live.”
- Catch Vogue every Sunday on Heart from 6am.
- Read Beth Neil’s interview with presenter Vick Hope, only in Fabulous magazine in this week’s Sun on Sunday
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