EXCLUSIVE: Vanessa Feltz 'feeling shrunken' in embarrassment after date goes wrong
Vanessa Feltz has shared that she felt 'guilty' all the time when she was raising her children whilst building a career in television and radio
Vanessa Feltz has admitted to always feeling "guilty" when she was trying to juggle raising her daughters and felt she wasn't "doing it right". She shared how she "sacrificed" herself to have both children and a career.
During an exclusive chat with OK!, Vanessa gushed about the achievements of her daughters, Allegra and Saskia, who have built careers as a tax lawyer and child therapist respectively. "They're working so hard," she beamed. "They're toiling away and I think they get that from me."
Like her daughters, who are also mothers, Vanessa raised two children whilst working a full-time job. She then admitted how hard that was and the "guilty" feelings that arose from it. "You feel very stretched, very thin. It's not easy to do. And I think all the time you're doing it, you feel guilty as if you're not doing it right."
Vanessa recalled how she used to think about her parenting. "When I did it, I certainly didn't think, 'Oh, here I am really acing this. Here I am working, with children. How great this is?' Not at all.
"I just thought, 'Oh, Christ, I'm actually standing outside the school play on the phone trying to organise something. I'm writing something in the car on the way there.'"
Though she did say that it was great to see how that work ethic was passed down to her children, it wasn't easy and she never wants to "downplay' how difficult it was not to "shortchange" her daughters.
"I don't want to downplay it and make it seem like it was a breeze because it's not a breeze. It's really hard to do. And the main thing is not to shortchange the children. You don't want to always be rushing the children along so that you can get to work or rushing the children out of the room so you can take a call.
"You don't want their life to feel as if they were constantly pushed out of the way. So you're always trying to do it the other way round. You're spreading yourself very thinly. It's very hard."
And to do that, Vanessa said she had to "sacrifice" herself sometimes. "Usually the thing that is sacrificed is yourself. So you're knackered or you haven't had your roots done for four months because you didn't have a moment to do it."
Though her children are now grown up, Vanessa is still spreading herself thinly by working several jobs. Between her radio show, TV show, podcast and weekly column, "I work seven days a week," Vanessa admitted.
One of her jobs is co-hosting a podcast with Saskia, the child therapist. Called Help! My Child is Anxious, the podcast explores issues affecting children's mental health today and how parents can cope with it.
Vanessa spoke to the Mirror in partnership with Kensho Media.
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