Janette Manrara has opened up about parenting baby Lyra (Image: BBC)
Strictly Come Dancing icon Janette Manrara opened up about struggling to balance being a mother with her work commitments in an emotional confession.
After hosting the Strictly live tour following her It Takes Two presenting commitments, she is now joining the Chicago stage show as Roxie Hart, touring until August 30 with a four-week ‘break’ in the middle to dance through 19 cities with husband Aljaž Škorjanec in their A Night To Remember show.
As the pair take on more work outside the home, Janette told Daily Express how important it is to her to focus on her daughter.She said: “The biggest concern was Lyra and our family. So Aljaž is gonna come and stay with me as much as he can throughout the tour with her. Of course, I’m gonna miss her terribly because I’m used to being with her all the time. But we have a family holiday coming up soon, and she’s with us when we tour together.
Strictly’s Janette Manrara and Aljaz Skorjanec share baby Lyra together (Image: -)
She said: “The biggest concern was Lyra and our family. So Aljaž is gonna come and stay with me as much as he can throughout the tour with her. Of course, I’m gonna miss her terribly because I’m used to being with her all the time. But we have a family holiday coming up soon, and she’s with us when we tour together.
“Everything else I can survive. I’m used to busy crazy schedules. That doesn’t scare me.”
She also opened up on their house move, which they are in the midst of on top of their other TV stints and dancing commitments.
Janette said: “With Aljaž being back on Strictly and me doing It Takes Two, we found it really difficult to commute with Lyra. Aljaž was staying in hotels all the time. It was better for us to come back towards London, but the countryside is still the way forward, for Lyra to wake up to birds chirping and to greenery and trees. It’s a lifestyle that we fell in love with and we don’t want to lose.
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“I unpacked most of the rooms in two days, you should have seen us. I wanted to leave him and Lyra as comfortable as possible while I’m rehearsing for Chicago.
“Nowadays, there is no one-way system to parenting. Aljaž and I really, really co-parent. So right now, he’s holding the reins being Superdad while I’m doing Chicago, then I’m Supermum when he’s doing Strictly.
“You can’t have a happy, healthy child if you don’t have happy, healthy parents first. I think Lyra’s growing up seeing her mom and dad doing what they love for a living. I think that’s a healthy thing for her.”
Janette stars in Chicago from March 3, chicagothemusical.com/uk-tour/