Charlotte Crosby, who is mum to Alba and Pixi, opens up about the struggles she has faced in motherhood and with Jake Ankers as she looks back on her first year as a mum-of-two
For busy mum-of-two Charlotte Crosby, life is non-stop, which becomes apparent when she chats to new!, telling us breathlessly she’s just had to sort a “last-minute errand”.
But the 35-year-old is used to the juggle. She runs her own business, looks after her daughters – Alba, three, and one-year-old Pixi – all while nearing the end of a big renovation of her home with fiancé Jake Ankers, alongside other showbiz projects.
No wonder she’s feeling a tad under the weather as she catches up with us. “If I sound croaky, it’s because I’m a bit poorly,” she warns, with touches, nonetheless, of the warmth she’s known and loved for. Another thing she’s loved by fans for is her honesty, and Charlotte is incredibly candid when we ask how she’s found her first year as a mum-of-two.
“It was harder than we ever imagined,” she admits, laughing. “We found one child so easy – like such a walk in the park that we thought the second was going to be the same. I don’t know why! We’ve both got demanding jobs – Jake’s got his own business, I’ve got multiple things going on and it was just hard. But we’re in the flow now. Everything’s fine because we’re used to it. But at first, it was a shock to the system.”
Keeping romance alive as a busy working parent isn’t easy either. Charlotte admits, “I think the biggest thing is, everyone just puts so much pressure on themselves, and then it makes it weird and awkward. But if you just look at each other and think, ‘We’re raising two really small children, they’re going to be in our beds, we’ll never get this part of our life back. Let’s just accept it.’”
Charlotte and Jake, 35, do get some alone time, though. “We had a big holiday over Christmas. We were away for three weeks and there was no sexy time then because we were all in the same room. But we have our little date nights. We try and do that once a month.”
She adds, “Sometimes we might go to a spa hotel. We’re trying to get out to our villa in Spain later this month – to sort it out for when my mum and dad want to go over – and that’ll be just us, so that’ll be nice.” Charlotte’s mother Letitia, she adds, is a huge source of support for the pair and she feels lucky her mum can help look after the little ones.
Clearly, former Geordie Shore star Charlotte is still very much in love with the man she went public with in 2022, lighting up when she talks about him. As for any challenges they’ve faced since welcoming Pixi, she admits, “We only had one time, when Jake wasn’t at home, that was dead frustrating.”
During the first six weeks after giving birth, says Charlotte, Jake had to work away and she was faced with parenting a newborn and a toddler solo. “We felt like we were at each other’s throats – as you would,” she explains. “We’d just had a baby, I was tired, he was tired. He wasn’t home. That was a rocky period, I would say.”
With the newborn phase now behind them, Charlotte and Jake are stronger than ever. “I couldn’t give Jake up, he’s gold in male form. He should make a school to teach men how to behave,” she gushes. “He cleans the house, he does the dishes, does all the clothes washing. I’d never find another. He looks after us, picks us up, drives us around. I don’t drive, I’m a passenger princess!”
She adds, “This man treats me like a queen and I love him to the world and back. So no, regardless of any rocky patch, I’ll never let go of him and what we’ve got because it’s something I’ve never felt in my whole entire life. All this doesn’t mean they’re going to walk down the aisle any time soon, however, even though Jake popped the question to Charlotte on a Dubai rooftop in 2022.
Admitting a wedding isn’t on the cards, she says, “I really don’t give a f**k about getting married any time soon. I see it has a huge financial drain and I like to invest my money into things that give long-term gain. I look at how much a wedding costs and I’m like, ‘OK I could have really made a lot of money instead of just blowing it.’”
When the time comes, she says, it’s not going to be a low-key affair. “I see myself tying the knot in my forties because I want to spend a lot of money – my wedding isn’t gonna be cheap! I mean, Olivia Dean’s performing, I’m getting private jets out there – it’s going to cost a fortune.”
She adds, “If I can’t do it that way, I’ll just be gutted. I’m gonna end up being a bride at 40, but I also think my forties are gonna be the prime of my life. Because I’ll have had my babies, they’ll have grown up a bit, I’ll be able to pour more energy into myself.” She adds, giggling, “I’ll just be so fit and thriving and healthy. I might even have abs!”
For now, Charlotte’s more than happy with her set-up – planning kids’ birthdays over lavish weddings. As we speak, she’s preparing for Pixi’s first birthday party. Charlotte has also taken part in a fun new YouTube series called Celebs With Tools , alongside the likes of Jake Quickenden and Ollie Locke, which challenges famous faces with questionable DIY skills to build wardrobes, fit kitchens and even create media walls.
She tells us, “It was so much fun. I was so excited because I’m so into my interiors. I’m currently renovating my house at the minute so it was right up my street.
“I’ve never been able to put up a flat-pack piece of furniture in my entire life. Now I own a toolbox and I reckon I could assemble just about anything.”
All episodes of Celebs with Tools are streaming now on Checkatrade’s YouTube Channel
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
