From Beauty Queen To Super Mum!

Crowned Miss World in 1997, Diana Hayden went to pursue the glamour industry. After making headlines (and our cover) in 2016, on giving birth to Arya at 42, with the help of frozen eggs, she’s back on the parenting grid, with her twins. M&B catches up with the busy mum for a chat...

HOW OLD ARE ARYA, RHYS AND TAYLOR?

Arya is three years, going on 13! Rhys and Taylor will be a year old on March 15th and 16th. Yes, although they’re twins, they’re born on different dates—two minutes apart; Rhys (the boy) was born just before midnight and Taylor (the girl) soon after midnight. We wanted them to have their own birthdays, and as it was a planned C-section, we could do that. When I was a child, I shared many of my birthday parties with an aunt, and I remember being so disappointed that my birthday party was not all about me like all my friends.

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR CURRENT LIFE. WHERE ARE YOU BASED OUT OF?

We were living in the US for a while, but we’re now based in Kenya. As it’s so much closer, I return to Mumbai almost every month now on work. I travel with the babies as they’re still breastfeeding and are used to me being around them 24/7. We’re lucky our babies are excellent, happy travellers, almost like it runs in their DNA! I don’t like keeping a nanny as I think firstly, it makes a world of a difference to the mental and emotional security of a child when they spend this early time with their mother, and secondly, they mimic the person they spend most of their time with. So, you can shape them the way you’d like to. I’ve got my hands full, but I’m loving and soaking up every minute of it!

YOU ALWAYS WANTED KIDS. NOW THAT YOU HAVE A FULL HOUSE, HOW DOES IT FEEL?

Fulfilled and amazing! I now know exactly why I wanted to have babies almost all my life... for me it’s the most satisfying, all-encompassing feeling I have ever had; second to none.

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT ARYA. HOW DID YOU PLAN ON HAVING HER. WHAT WAS THE JOURNEY LIKE?