Paloma Faith has opened up about juggling her career with being a mother, saying she is 'so tired' and doesn't believe the idea that mothers can 'have it all' is achievable at all.
Everyone strives to be the 'perfect parent' but, at least deep down, we all know that it's impossible. Whether you've experienced parental burnout as a result of perfect parenting, or you realised just in the nick of time that perfect parenting isn't necessary as experts say no matter your parenting approach, you will mess your kids up and that's more than ok, everyone is forced at some point or another to make peace with the fact perfect parenting is not only unattainable, but it doesn't exist.
It's a truth Paloma Faith, who recently spoke out about her dislike for the term co-parenting, is now coming to terms with. The singer split with the father of her two children back in 2022 and she's since been navigating her changing relationship with motherhood.
Now largely parenting on her own, she's revealed that juggling motherhood with her career has felt not only 'tiring' but 'impossible' and it's led her to speak out against 'society's expectation on women' to have it all; a career, children, and a put-together life.
"I’ve got more energy than most but, frankly, I’m so tired. Touring as a single parent is something else," she told Radio Times in a recent interview. "Back in the day, I’d get in at two in the morning and then I’d sleep in because my ex would look after the kids. But now I get in, get four hours sleep, then I’m up getting them ready for school.
"I don’t believe we can have it all," she added candidly. "I feel a bit disgruntled about society’s expectation on women, because we were given this idea that you could work and have your own money and independence while raising children. What we’ve ended up with is far too much responsibility, and I think a lot of women are burning out.
"Parenting is a full-time job. If you’re also CEO of your own business, like I am, then I’m meant to delegate to my partner, but that’s a full-time job because they’ve not got any initiative. It’s exhausting and you sacrifice something, always."
It's a topic Faith speaks about plainly in her new book MILF: Motherhood, Identity, Love and F**kery. As she did with her latest album, the book explores the end of her long-term relationship with her daughters' father and how her life has changed since that moment.
"I did have to carefully edit the book and the album, because I still have to maintain a relationship with my children’s dad and there’s a fragility to that," she admitted. "I had the pull between that, but also feeling that the culture needed an injection of the truth.
"We skirt around it: people know that it’s hard to be middle-aged, or a single mum, or go through a break-up – but there’s nothing that really talks about the real harsh truth of it and I think it’s important."
In other entertainment news, Adele worries she’s a ‘bad parent’ for this one heartbreaking and relatable reason and if you don't love Bluey this could be why, according to a child therapist (and it's pretty surprising). Plus, Disney’s Inside Out 2 has a new character – and it’s an emotion we need to talk about with our teens.
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