The Way I Am 'Having Children Taught Me Who I Am'

Emma Willis, 42, tells Charlotte Williamson about babies, bras – and her career Plan B…

Emma Willis must be the busiest woman on TV. So far this year she’s presented two series of Celebrity Big Brother, The Voice Kids, the documentary series Emma Willis: Delivering Babies – which meant spending 12 weeks training to be a maternity care assistant – as well as guest-presenting This Morning. “Me time, what’s that?” she says laughing. “I’m definitely bottom of the list.”

We meet in north London on a scorcher of a day – Emma insists on sitting outside to make the most of the British summer, and gets excited when she hears the sound of an ice cream van tootling past. She’s as pretty as she appears on screen – all flawless skin and ice-blue eyes, rocking an impressive pair of dungarees – and seems just as down to earth too, as a phone call to her husband Matt, bassist in the pop band Busted, reveals (a detailed discussion about who’s picking up tonight’s takeaway). The couple live in Hertfordshire with their three children: Isabelle, eight, Ace, six, and Trixie, two.

At the minute, my life is basically work and home. 

But luckily, I love work. When people say they’d retire if they won the Lottery, I couldn’t do that. I’m not very good at not doing anything. Even if I have an hour in the day, I just have to fill it – otherwise, I feel like I’ve wasted some time.

I have imposter syndrome. 

I’ve never been very confident, and early on in my career I wasn’t good at networking. I genuinely can’t believe my luck, and feel like I’m winging it constantly. I’m very aware it could all end at any point and I’m so grateful for what I have now.

Having children has made me more confident.