Alex Jones has opened up about her struggles with motherhood – revealing that she sometimes ‘doesn’t want to be a parent’.
The One Show host admitted that while being a mum is ‘wonderful’, she found the first year of her son’s life was particularly ‘difficult’.
Speaking to Christine Lampard on ITV’s Lorraine about her new book, Winging It!, Alex said: ‘When I decided to do the book I thought it has to be honest and candid and it was a big decision actually to open up and be that honest about the first year of being a parent.
‘It is wonderful and joyous in so many ways but it is really hard and difficult and sometimes you don’t want to be a parent – it’s a rollercoaster.’
Alex – who ended her maternity leave last April, three months after welcoming son Teddy with husband Charlie Thomson – also opened up about her desire to return to work quickly.
‘I think women find it hard to be able to admit that they want to go back to work and that they are going to go back a bit earlier than everyone thinks is acceptable
‘It’s ok to say I like my job and I want to continue doing it while I’m a mother. You’ve worked very hard to get where you are. Anyone who respects their job, they are scared about someone stepping in and doing it better. It is a worry'.
She added: ‘People expect you to say the baby is the most important, and of course it is, but side-by-side you still want to be the same person you were before.
‘You’ll never be exactly the same, of course. I think it’s OK to say, “Yes I’m going to go back to work”.
While Alex is happy to be back at work on the BBC1 show, she does admit that three months was probably a little too early to end her maternity leave.
She added: ‘I went back a bit too soon. Before you have a baby you don’t really understand how it’s going to change you. I made promises that were a sort of unrealistic. Three and a half months was very early. But we made it work.
‘In hindsight, five and a half months would have been better. But you don’t know before going off on maternity.’
