TV star Rochelle Humes says her father leaving when she was three gave her “daddy issues”.
The ex-Saturdays singer is grateful for how good hubby Marvin is with kids Alaia-Mae, nine, Valentina, five, and Blake, two.
Presenter Rochelle said: “I hate the ‘daddy issues’ title. It didn’t affect our relationship but my appreciation for him went through the roof when I saw what he’s like with our kids.”
But the 33-year-old confessed she finds it hard when JLS singer Marvin, 37, is praised – because good mums should be recognised too.
She added: “I’m so grateful – but in all honestly I have a weird relationship with that. My mum will say to me, ‘Oh my God you’re so lucky... He’s such a good dad’.”
“I understand why she says that because of her experience and past with my dad.
“However, I’m like, ‘Marvin just stepped up and was a dad’. Who does that for me? Who says, ‘Oh my gosh you’re so lucky Rochelle is such a good mum’? Because that’s expected.”
The pair, who co-host BBC1 music quiz show The Hit List, married in 2012.
Rochelle said: “I know I’m lucky and my kids are lucky and I’m so grateful, but at the same time I’m like, ‘Do we clap when people do what they’re supposed to do?’ It’s an archaic way of thinking.
“I hate people saying ‘daddy daycare’, too. You’re not babysitting your kid. It makes it sound like a novelty.”
Opening up about her childhood in Barking, Essex, on the My Love Is... podcast, she added: “I grew up raised by my mum. I knew who my dad was but he was never around.
“She was more than two parents in one. It taught me what I want in a partner and who I want for a dad for my children.
“It gave me more clarity.”
