Rachel Riley says she and pro dancer hubby Pasha Kovalev have put passion on hold as they tackle parenting two young children.
The Countdown star, 37, said having two kids under the age of four makes it difficult to focus on romance.
But she vowed she and Pasha – who got together after being partnered on Strictly in 2013 and married in 2019 – will get right back to it once she stops breastfeeding their youngest daughter Noa, 18 months.
Rachel said: “All the romance and dates… we just kind of put a pin in it.
“We’re both quite patient and we know that once Noa is off the boob, we’ll get there again.”
But as well as the passion, Rachel is also itching to get back to the partying and is planning a big bash for her 40th.
She said: “I’m looking forward to celebrating one of my friends turning 40 at the end of the year. She’s the one stepping into the unknown but with all my school friends, in a few years it will be 40, 40, 40… I’m looking forward to the parties. We were all saving up ahead of our 30ths to go to Vegas. Everyone put it in their diaries – then everyone got pregnant, so we couldn’t go.
“But by 40, the kids are going to be a bit bigger. Maybe we can all get a house together, chuck the kids in the middle and leave the boys to look after them. But I’m not thinking about 40 in terms of, ‘Oh, that’s a big number’. I’m just thinking of how we’re going to party.”
But it’s not just passion and parties Rachel is looking forward to once the children grow. Sharing snaps of a 2017 holiday to the Galapagos Islands, she said: “Before kids, we’d book off three weeks and go somewhere amazing and away from it all. Galapagos was one of those trips, it was just out of this world.”
Rachel and Pasha, 43, welcomed first daughter Maven in 2019, followed by Noa in 2021. They became a household of eight last year after welcoming a Ukrainian family into their home and Rachel insists they will not be adding to their brood.
She said: “We’re done in terms of kids. You can fit four in a hotel room or a car. So now when the girls grow out of clothes, they go to the charity shop. I’m not keeping them just in case.
“Since Maven was two-and-a-half there have been a lot of people in the house. We’ve had Sasha, Galya, Luba and Mykyta with us. I don’t think she remembers anything else.
“But in a month or so, they are going to go back to Ukraine and see how they get on there, so it’s going to be very different.
“It’s going to go from eight of us to – if Pasha is away – three of us.
“We’re going to miss them and I don’t want to think about them leaving. Mykyta has become like a brother to the girls. But we’ve promised to all video time each other.”
Rachel is working with travel search engine KAYAK for its Vacay Valuator campaign to help people save and find the best holidays for their budget this summer. Find out more at kayak.co.uk/vacay-valuator
