Alex Jones counts herself lucky to be a mum to three healthy children. The One Show presenter once feared she had left it “too late” to have a family, worrying she would go into early menopause, like her mum did at the age of 44.
But when she was 39, Alex became pregnant with her son, Teddy, now five, and went on to have Kit, three and 13-month-old Annie.
“Annie was the most fantastic and welcome surprise because so many friends and colleagues have been through the mill,” she says. “It hasn’t been the most straightforward for us along the way, but we got there in the end.”
Alex has always been open about her journey to motherhood, including a miscarriage when Teddy was 10 months old.
She even made a deeply personal documentary called Fertility And Me in 2016 and has just recorded a follow-up series, Making Babies, in which she trains as a fertility assistant.
“It was filmed at King’s College [Hospital] fertility clinic in London and is about different stages of fertility treatment,”
she says. “Hopefully, it will inform viewers and make them aware of what a grueling process fertility treatment can be.”
Here, 45-year-old Alex chats about why she wanted to make a new documentary, how she navigates work and her family life and why she finds date nights with her husband Charlie Thomson “cringey”...
READ MORE: The One Show's Alex Jones pays tribute to 'kind' Bill Turnbull as presenter dies
Hi, Alex! Tell us about Making Babies and training as a fertility assistant...
It’s about different stages of fertility treatment. I work at the hospital as a fertility nurse and the consultant who runs this clinic is an incredible man, who has such integrity.
Hopefully, it will inform viewers and make them aware of what a grueling process fertility treatment can be. I didn’t really have to do any fertility treatment and I didn’t need to have IVF, but I did have a lot of consultations and there were a lot of complications after that missed miscarriage.
It is only when you have your baby safely in your arms that you can breathe a sigh of relief and this was really brought home to me again filming this series and it reminded me of what I’d been through.
Did you ever believe that you would become a mum again for the third time?
No, it was a complete shock. Every baby I’ve had has always reminded me of that documentary that I made when I didn’t think I could have children.
In the back of my mind, and this is a bit of a secret, I always wanted three kids but I thought, “Oh Alex, don’t be silly – you have left it too late.”
So Annie was the most fantastic and welcome surprise because so many friends and colleagues have been through the mill. It hasn’t been the most straightforward for us along the way, but we got there in the end.
Were you worried about having another miscarriage?
Having Annie was a complete surprise and luckily there were no complications. Every pregnancy is fragile and between Ted and Kit, we had a missed miscarriage.
I went for a scan, I was nearly 14 weeks pregnant and there was no heartbeat. Ted was only 10 months old, so they would have been really close in age and it knocked me for six.
I went straight back to work, but I had complications and they didn’t manage to remove everything [all the pregnancy tissue from her womb] and I thought, “Oh my God, is this it then? Will I be able to have any more kids?” It opens your eyes to how complex pregnancy can be. For an awful lot of people, trying to create a family is never straightforward.
Would you like more children?
I would have babies forever more, but the reality is that we feel super lucky to have three healthy children and if there is any fertility luck left, I want to pass it on to someone. I don’t want to risk having another baby, when I have three healthy children.
Of course, I feel sad in a way that I won’t go through that first year again. Annie has started
to pull herself up and will soon be a toddler.
Are you a strict parent?
I wouldn’t say I am overly so, but I am quite careful about them having a balanced diet. I will let them have chocolate, but it has to be as a treat rather than as a snack.
One of the main times I allow it is when we all sit down to watch a movie together and now Strictly is back, I suspect there will be a fair amount of chocolate consumed!
It’s also why I decided to partner with Ferrero as part of its Thoughtful Treating initiative on how parents can share our favourite treats with our families responsibly and thoughtfully.
You took part in Strictly in 2011. Would you have done the show now as a mum-of-three?
I couldn’t have done Strictly now with three children under the age of six and a job on The One Show, but it worked for me in 2011 because there was no one else to worry about.
I had just met Charlie and I didn’t have a family. But I absolutely loved it, although Charlie was like, “What’s going on here?”
He was living with a group of Kiwi lads in a flat in London and Strictly was just not on his radar. Suddenly he found himself every Saturday night at BBC television centre having a chat with Bruno [Tonioli]. But he really got into it and now he watches it, he says things like “They are going to mark him down, aren’t they?”
And I joke and I say, “Listen to you, aficionado! You had no clue when you first came to the studio and now you think you’re Craig Revel Horwood!”
You must be full of pride that Helen Skelton – who is also a mum-of-three – has signed up?
It’s fantastic and, if I was a betting girl, I’d say there is a good chance we will see her in the final. If anybody can lift the trophy, it’s Helen Skelton.
Now that Strictly is back on, does this mean date nights will be out the window?
We were saying how we had to factor more date nights in, but they make me feel a bit cringey to be honest. We always say that we aren’t going to talk about the children and half an hour in, we are like, “What are we going to do about Ted?”
What’s the hardest part about being a parent?
I always have that “Mum guilt” and I feel sick when I have to drop my eldest son Teddy at school on a Monday morning, knowing I am not going to see him all week because of working on The One Show and I can’t do the school pick-ups.
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