ZapGossip

Rochelle Humes is undecided about maternity leave

Rochelle Humes doesn’t know how much maternity leave she’ll take.

The 31-year-old singer-turned-presenter – who already has daughters Alaia-Mai, seven, and Valentina, four, with husband Marvin Humes – is expecting her third child and is in her third trimester, but hasn’t made any definite plans for how long she’ll take off work.

She told HELLO! magazine: "I am just going to play it by ear. I will just go with it and have a bit of time in my baby bubble, get Christmas out of the way and then see how I feel."

When she does go back to work, the ‘Hit List’ host – who knows she won’t be back until 2021 – will only be looking for projects that fit into her family life.

She added: "My kids are always number one of the list and my family is the priority. If it doesn’t fit in with our life, then it doesn’t happen."

Though she’s feeling good, Rochelle doesn’t get a minute’s peace at home because her daughters are "obsessed" with the idea of having a baby brother and constantly bombard her with questions.

She said: "The girls are so excited, they literally don’t leave me alone. I don’t get a minute; they are just obsessed.

"They keep saying, ‘What’s my baby brother doing now?’ And I just say, ‘Still in my belly.’

"If we are out somewhere and buying sweets, they say, ‘I am just going to get a packet for my baby brother’ and I think, ‘It will be a long time before he can eat those.’ "

While Rochelle found homeschooling her kids in the early stages of pregnancy quite tough, she’s appreciated the fact lockdown gave her more quality time with her family.

She said: "I think we all really appreciate our children’s teachers. We are not teachers but we gave it our best shot. And if we can get them through this whole scary time of a global pandemic and being mentally ok, everything else will figure itself out.

"I had quite bad morning sickness in lockdown and throwing up and having two kids off school wasn’t ideal. But I did enjoy the solid, uninterrupted family time. That was the silver lining."