Dancer Aljaž Škorjanec on being a hands-on dad and why sharing his first Father’s Day with wife Janette Manrara and their baby daughter Lyra is the best gift of all
WORDS: LAUREN FLETCHER PHOTOS: NICKY JOHNSTON
FAMILY MAN
Former Strictly pro Aljaž Škorjanec and his wife, Janette Manrara, became proud parents to a beautiful baby daughter, Lyra Rose, who they welcomed in July 2023. The dancers have been married since 2017 and Aljaž, 34, has taken on the role of stay-at-home dad, while Janette, 40, has continued to work, including hosting Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, alongside Fleur East, towards the end of last year.
Far from the glitz and the glamour of the ballroom, being at home with Lyra is clearly something that besotted Aljaž relishes, and is more than ready to shout about this Father’s Day.
Here, he opens up exclusively to OK! about how life has changed dramatically since the couple welcomed little Lyra – and how parenthood, despite its challenges, has made him love Janette even more...
Hi, Aljaž. Life has changed a great deal for you since you became a father last year, hasn’t it?
It has completely changed and I absolutely love it! I went shopping the other daybecause I needed a new pair of trousers, and I thought to myself, “This is probably the first time in a couple of months that I’ve actually gone to the shop for me,” because my whole world is about Lyra – it’s not about me any more.
So, truthfully – is Lyra a daddy’s girl – or a mummy’s girl?Of course she is a daddy’s girl, but I would say that! If you ask Janette, she’s going to say Lyra’s a mummy’s girl. I have a lot of childish energy, I don’t think I’ll ever grow up.
So, at the moment, myself and Lyra are actually really compatible – she sees me and she goes crazy.
Are there any aspects of parenting that you’ve found particularly tough?
I think that the biggest one I think for anyone going through being a first-time parent is definitely going to be the sleep regression and changes of schedules, because the little ones are kind of finding their own schedule every single day. Some nights, it’s super smooth and straightforward – some nights it’s really not. At the moment, it’s really not.
But you kind of just go with it, and I’m lucky because I can do the nights then rest when Lyra does, during the day. As a parent, you just feed off that beautiful adrenaline.
And has parenthood changed your relationship with Janette in any way?
Just before we became parents, we made
