Cat Deeley Says Her 16-Month-Old Son Has Major Dirt On Her Personal Life
Cat Deeley has hosted plenty of television contests in the years since she first entered show business, and is perhaps most well known in the states for her time on So You Think You Can Dance?
But for Deeley, a new mom, her latest gig as host of Big Little Star is likely the most reflective of where she is in her personal life.
Deeley says the show, in which celebrities and their children compete against other teams to win money for charity, is like a mashup between Mr. and Mrs. and Kids Say the Darnedest Things. Deeley dishes on her experience as a new mom, the embarrassing dirt her 16-month-old son, Milo, would have on her if he could spill, and the causes she cares about most.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Yahoo Style: Do you ever look to the contestants on the show today and wonder how you and your son, Milo, would do on it?
I just know he’s going to have so much embarrassing material on me. Even now, if he could speak and tell people that I do a ‘grind the beans dance,’ which is essentially, when I make my coffee in the morning, I do this whole dance and sing this song, ‘grind the beans, grind, grind the beans!’
And there are plenty of fish faces I do all the time for him, particularly if he’s crying in the backseat of the car. That tends to stop that. If he could talk right now, there would be heaps already.
How was your pregnancy for you? Would you be open to having more children?
It was a very, very easy pregnancy but I was just nervous, that was all. I just worried because I am a bit of a worrier anyway, but I had a great pregnancy. It was brilliant, and I would like to have some more kids if it works out that way.
One of the reasons why I worried so much is that I feel so lucky in my life, and you just don’t know what’s going to happen or how you’re going to be or how the baby is going to be.
I’ve got the most perfect baby. He sleeps from seven at night till 7:30 in the morning, he’s amazing. Even if he wakes up in the night, he just wakes up and sings or laughs or chats to himself, he doesn’t cry. But I lie awake listening up for him. I think i may never sleep again. I’ve got a feeling that even when he’s 18, i’m going to be still worrying. I’ll be sleeping with one ear and one eye open.
A post shared by catdeeley (@catdeeley) on Jan 11, 2017 at 5:32am PST
It sounds like you only worry more after you become a parent, huh?
I worry about everything. Some big things, some small things. Some are to do with the world, some are to do with him.
With what worries me in the world, it’s always to do with children. There’s the refugee crisis, where there are children traveling on their own to try to find a safer place, and the chemical attacks that happened as well. Anything like that worries me an awful lot.
And I think now we’re more aware because of social media and you just feel a little bit like, ‘what am I going to do? How am I going to help?’ It’s down to each individual to find some way of doing something of making a difference making sure people are being heard and being seen and not just brushed under the carpet and being ignored.
If you were on Big Little Star and won the prize for charity, to which charity would you donate?
Mine would be UNICEF. I’m an ambassador for UNICEF and I have been for a long time now. I’ve gone and done lots of trips with them — they’re the most amazing organization. They can get into places that other charities just can’t. They really do make a difference.
This Christmas, no one got Christmas presents. I made a donation to the White Helmets in Syria. They’re the heroes going in there and getting people out.
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Alexandra Mondalek is a writer for Yahoo Style + Beauty. Follow her on Twitter @amondalek.
