Claudia Winkleman welcomed a new addition to her family without telling her husband and kids. (Image: Getty)
Claudia Winkleman’s husband Kris Thykier and their children were left “horrified” when she brought a new addition to the family without telling them.
star says anything in her home with Kris and their children Jake, 21, Matilda, 18, and Arthur, 13, needs a “PowerPoint presentation” before the family agrees to it.
But with one child at university, another preparing to go, and a teenager who increasingly relies on mum less, Claudia, 52, knew she needed to change something. It prompted to decide she wanted to get a dog in the hope it would encourage her to become more active and “get off her phone”.
Her family however were concerned that Claudia wouldn’t look after the pooch, and that their home wouldn’t be suitable for the animal, reports .
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Claudia Winkleman and Kris Thykier (Image: Dave Benett/Getty Images)
Speaking to The Times, she said: “If you want to get something done in our house you have to do a PowerPoint presentation, so I put one together to Kris and the three kids. They all said, ‘Absolutely not, Mum, we’re just not a dog family. We don’t have a garden, so it’s not fair on the dog’.
“They said I wouldn’t walk it and they’d be in charge. And we’d already got a bunny. So I said, ‘Fine.’ And then about six months later I just got one without telling them.”
Claudia, with the help of former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell, eventually came home with Skip, now a year old. The star declares Skip the “love of her life” and says she “licked his entire tongue once”
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She admitted the initial reaction from her family was one of “horror”. But she embraced the responsibility, saying: “The kids had to learn how to unload the dishwasher from a really young age. But I said, ‘Don’t worry, this is on me.’ I knew he was my responsibility.
“Nobody else had to pick up the poo or do the walking. I slept on the floor next to him until he got used to the new house.”
Now, a year later, Claudia, who also co-presents with Tess Daly, claims to be an avid dog walker, taking Skip out for four walks daily.
Her family has since fallen for Skip’s charm. Claudia will return to our TVs for the next season on The Traitors, due to return on January 1 on One and iPlayer, broadcasting Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.