Stacey Solomon on the return of her BBC series and plans to work with husband Joe Swash
WORDS: ARIANA LONGSON. PHOTOS: GETTY, BBC, INSTAGRAM @STACEYSOLOMON
She first rose to fame as a 19-year-old single mum auditioning for The X Factor in the hopes of becoming a pop star. But while singing isn’t her profession nowadays, The X Factor certainly changed Stacey’s life for the better.
A well-loved member of the Loose Women panel, author and DIY guru, there isn’t much the mum-of-five, 34, can’t do now. Over the years, fans – including her 5.8 million Instagram followers – have come to rely on her for decluttering tips and mum hacks, but above all, her unapologetic honesty. So it’s unsurprising that when Woman’s Own chatted to Stacey about series four of her home improvement show, Sort Your Life Out, the star admits filming away from her five children was ‘a struggle’.
Here, the ‘queen of clean’ opens up about the toughest parts of filming, why she fears she might lose everything, plus the celebrity home she’d most like to declutter.
Hi Stacey, what can we look forward to in this new series?
Every series just gets better and better. We gain knowledge from the series before, so we can do things slightly differently and more efficiently. There’s also some bigger and much harder stories. I’ve never had a show go on as long as four series, so I’m really grateful. And we’re about to start shooting series five, so that’s exciting.
You had to travel for the series – how did you cope with that?
I always struggle being away from home, especially filming this series. Belle was only three-and-a-half months when we started, so it was hard; I definitely struggled. We [the show’s team] were all going a little bit crazy because we’ve been away for so long! When you’re not at home and you are working on what can be really upsetting, you have to find strength from somewhere, and the team is my strength.
It’s also not just a show that’s all fun and games; we actually make a difference to people’s lives, so it feels like a necessity and that makes it easier to be away from home.
Aside from being away, what was the most challenging part of the show?
One family we helped had suffered a bereavement – they’d lost a parent. I find those really difficult because it doesn’t matter how much you tidy somebody’s house, you’re not going to take that pain away. You’re not going to make anyone come back, all you can do is try and put them in a situation that helps them moving forward. That was pro
