Begin Again with Davina McCall - Mother's Day Special: Begin Again Moments

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

Whoever your mother figure is, celebrate them this weekend with our sponsor Bloom & Wild. Use code DAVINA for 15% off at https://www.bloomandwild.com?utm_source=podcast+&utm_medium=podcasted&utm_campaign=Mother%27s+Day In this heartfelt Mother's Day Special, we hear from a collection of remarkable women sharing personal stories of motherhood and the powerful bonds they share with their mothers. Fearne Cotton reflects on how becoming a mother transformed her, bringing new perspectives and emotional depth. Sophie Ellis-Bextor opens up about her own mother’s influence, revealing how her upbringing shaped the loving mother she is today. Katie Piper touches on the strength of her relationship with her mum, who helped her navigate one of the hardest periods of her life. Finally, Rita Ora shares how stepping into the role of a stepmum has brought profound joy, describing it as one of the best experiences she's ever had. Join us for an emotional, honest conversations about the complex, beautiful journey of motherhood. From the joys of step-parenting to the raw realities of healing and growth, this special episode will resonate with anyone who has experienced the transformative power of love from a mother or maternal figure. The full episodes of these interview are available to listen to now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're so good at celebrating the big moments, aren't we? But what about those random days when your friend absolutely smashes something at work or the day they're feeling a bit wobbly about becoming an empty nester? That's basically me right now. These are actually the days when showing up really means the most. And when you want to show up but you can't physically be there, sending something that says, I'm thinking about you today, really does go. a long way. Our sponsor Bloom and Wild delivers gorgeous blooms like this one. All their

flowers are sent in bud, so they arrive really fresh. You can choose from a bouquet that can go through their letterbox or a hand-tied bouquet like this one. And if flowers aren't quite right, they've also got loads of gifts and hampers too. Letterbox brownies. Mm-hmm. So whoever deserves a gift care wildly with Bloom and Wilde. And I've got a code people, Devena for 15% of of your next gift. Tell me about becoming a mum. Hmm. I mean, if it's something, you know,

I guess you had like a soft launch with your stepchildren. Yeah. But then you had your two, Rex and Honey. What's that meant to you? Oh my God. It's been, the whole thing has just been, you know, I've got to start with my stepkids

because I have the most beautiful relationship with them. I love the bones of them. And they've brought me so much joy and so much happiness. And I still think there's a long way to go when we talk about blended families and how amazing it can be. Yes, it's complicated. Yes, it requires an insane amount of communication and compromise and everything that we all go through.

But the joy those, they're adults now, have brought me, is insane. And now they're at such a fun age, we have such a laugh. And I've known Lola, my stepdaughter's 19 now. When I met her, she was five. Wow. She was a teeny, teeny tiny kid. Amazing. So I've seen her go through all of this, you know, go through puberty and then become a woman.

And now we're out having a laugh together at dinner. And what a joy. It's been a blessing to have this inexplicable relationship with someone. It's not the same as having my own kids. It has a different tone to it. different flavour, but it's so enjoyable and so beautiful. And I certainly wouldn't be who I am today without my stepkids. There's no way. They've helped inform who I am as a person. They've fast-tracked me to being a responsible adult. They've made me accountable for my

reactions to things. They're just, they're amazing. And I just, I love them. I feel so lucky there in my life. And then having my own kids, I mean, how do you even describe the feeling? of bringing life into the world, what a privilege it is, how do you describe how insanely difficult it is, how challenging it can be, how confronting it is, how you have to learn so much overnight and continue to forever. You think there's a bit where you just stop learning

and it's all like, oh, we're in the rhythm of it now, we're just parents. It's every bloody day. It's exhausting. but absolutely life-affirming and I don't even I don't have the words like I don't have the words to sum it up it's all too big and all too overwhelming and I just bloody love them so much bones of them I know I mean I remember once and I can't think who said it I feel like it was weirdly John Legend's wife but she might have then taken the the quote from someone else.

Right. The feeling of having kids is like having your heart beating outside of your chest all day every day. It's kind of terrifying and you don't feel like there's enough protection around you and them and everything's a bit scary, but it's so intense and raw. I think it's really hard to put your finger on what it is and what it means to be a parent. and a step-parent, they're the most important relationships in my life, without a doubt.

You were the child of famous parents. I mean, your father, perhaps people might not have known him. No, he wasn't in the public. No, but he was famous within his own world. He was well-known in his own world, but your mum was mega to famous, to like everybody. I remember your mum so clearly on the television. She was weekly, you know, she was in.

in our living rooms weekly on Blue Peter, Janet, mega woman. And then you have gone on to become a famous parent yourself. That is such a unique situation. There aren't that many women, I don't think, that have done that. And I'd be very, because it's been a real worry for me as a famous mother on how will this affect my children. How can I keep them safe? How can I not, I mean, I spend a lot of time when I was,

younger trying not to embarrass them. I don't care anymore. No, me neither. But sorry kids. Sorry kids. Sorry, sorry about that. But I would love to hear your tape because that's so unique having Janet as a mum. What was life like being the child of a famous mother?

Right. Well, firstly, I'd say, you know, objectively, us worrying is a bit pointless because whatever family are going into, the family dynamic affects who you are. So it doesn't matter what you get up to. Yes. You don't get away. No. There's no verdict about your family damage.

Oh, that's, yes. Okay. Yeah. So don't worry. It's like just how it works, isn't it? And sorry. That's actually kind of brilliant. Like if I was famous or not.

Yeah. Be free from that, worry. Because your family dynamic is 100% what affects you. You know, when you sit like, you're like, God, oh my God, that is literally the first time I've thought about that. Oh. That is mega. Yeah. God, thank you.

Well, no, not at all. And that it doesn't matter whether you're famous or not or who you are, your family dynamic will be affected. Yes. Oh, God. Okay. Yeah. Wow. I'm going to be thinking about that tonight.

Oh. That's brilliant. Thank you. Wow. Okay. Yes. Yes. And also, I realized as soon as you start talking about my parents, I started smiling a lot because I'm very close to my parents.

And with my mum, geographically, we live about 10 minutes away from each other. Oh. The dream is because I really hope someone my kids do that with me, please. They will. They definitely. Or I'm going to them. No, I reckon you have a similar vibe to with your kids.

I bet there's my mum had with me, which is like the same way. I'm going to do it, by the way, strong matriarch vibes of just like to stay close, in touch, keep communicating with each other, check in. It's so important. So yes, I see my mum. Sometimes I'll be walking the kids to school and a bit of park we walk through. I'll see my mom walking her dog. So it's all pretty wholesome.

We see bump into Grandma quite a lot. Oh, that's so nice. Yes, I love it. Yes. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I love that. And I think with my mom, look, I mean, it would be, I can see that there must be some seeds that were sown from what my mum did that somehow worked into what I was going to do,

for sure. What sort of seeds? One of them is really embarrassing. But this is really not going to be good life. Oh, this is great. I can't wait. No, go on, tell me. Well, I would love to say it was all to do with work ethic. But I just remember when I was, I think it must have been my seventh birthday.

And we went to Madden Two Swords. And because my mom was on Blue Peter, we got to go straight in the front. And I think I was a bit like, that's pretty cool. And I do appreciate it does not pay, but I was seven. That is like, that's like high currency when you're small. So that's probably a little seed there, isn't it? But I also... I'm skipping to the front of the Madam Two Swords.

Oh my goodness. Yeah. How does this work? What does this work? What does that work? What did you think was cool? What would your kids think was cool about you now? What have you done for them where they'd go, oh, this is ace?

Oh. It's quite an interesting. I'm trying to think of anything that I've done for my kids, which they would think was mega. Because I don't take them to anything. Right. I would think at some point. It's been quite good. Trips?

Yeah. Like when you're doing gigs? Yes. So last year I got invited to sing for Mardi Gras and Bondi Beach in Sydney. Like brilliant. And I'd been away a little bit already by that point in the year, February. And I took Jesse, who was then eight. And we were only there for four days.

And they flew us there business class. And so Jesse gets on the plane before we've been taken off. and he was pressing all the buttons. And he went, hold on a minute, was this expensive, these tickets? And I said, yes, Jesse, very. And he went, it's worth it. I was like, oh no, how is he going to?

This is a long way down, isn't it? From like a business past flight to Australia. He was so happy. He was a great travelling companion. He was like Tom Hanks and Big when he's pressing all the buttons in the car. Like, woo-hoo! Isn't it special when you've got five kids?

You've got five boys and you can go away with one. I love it. Isn't that amazing? Yeah. There's not enough time in the year really to take them all away. But I think as you get older and you aren't working non-stop. Yeah. I took one of my kids away on their own for a week last.

This year. Yeah, this year in April, Holly, my oldest. Yeah. And it was a joy. That is really nice. I actually think because my kids are still quite little, that is actually one of the biggest privileges of having such amazing support

because I've got brilliant support with people who help me look after the kids when I'm working but it also means I can size do things with them one-on-one and I actually think that is that's invaluable being able to do that

if you've got lots of children what we're talking about? So yes so the other seeds I mean yeah my mum actually loves what she did so she adored presenting Blue Peter and Blue Peter was

it's very strange for me to even talk about it now because it's almost I think of it like a sibling which sounds really odd and maybe a little sad. No, you shared your life with it. I did, but particularly that bit of my childhood because my mum was presenting the show

while she was a single mother. So I would spend most of my time with her, I'd go to my dad every other weekend, and she finished the show when she was having my brother. So this chapter, it was like my, yeah, the sibling I had during that time when it was a lot of the time just me and her. And I think, yeah, I could say, see how much they love what they did. I like the fact that it opened my eyes to having a job

that wasn't a traditional job. So when the opportunity came to go on tour with my band, my parents, even though it was a slightly different world to theirs in music, that suited me too, because it felt like my thing, but I also didn't have any sort of dreamy world around it. I could see the nuts and bolts of what I do. The reality of it. Reality, exactly. And I think that's a privilege too, because it had been around me, so I could think in those terms. And I am aware that, you know, it's funny, because when you're young and starting out,

you don't want to think anything's been easier for you because it's hard for everybody when you got out. But looking back, I'm like, wow, I had so many aces in my pack in terms of, you know, growing up in London, a time when people from record companies would go out and actually go and watch gigs and suddenly, all these privileges are on my dogs, isn't it? Yeah, absolutely.

And the fact that my, this is actually probably the best of the best of the best of the biggest one. Because my parents worked in a similar field, they never, and my family haven't, they never became my fans, which sounds like a really odd statement. But it can really shift things. And they never were starstruck by any element of anything I got up to, which meant I had such a solid home base, such a grounding. It was lovely if I'd enjoyed the things I was going up to. But really, they always wanted to check in, how was I feeling about emotionally, how What was going on at home? How was my relationship at the time?

Was everything in order for, you know, could I pay my rent? All those sorts of things. It was quite practical and emotionally led and not, you've sold how many units? You're going to this country? That was at the end of the conversation. So that was a benefit to. So interesting because I had never thought about that that if you become famous, your parents sort of become fans and how nice it would be to have somebody, yes.

Or at least bit starstruck. Yeah, a whole thing. Yeah, it's unfamiliar, you know. They might not know what they're entitled to, yeah, they're entitled to help you. So those things can, those things help me for sure. And all the kind of things that I was saying about you at the beginning about being just down to earth and normal, I see you as kind of a humble, a humble superstar. Wow. No, but that's how I see you.

Like you are really well known. Everybody knows who you are, but you are. you got your feet on the ground. And now that makes real sense you saying that. I can completely understand that they would know exactly what you needed. Yeah, absolutely. Janet would know this is what I could have done with. Yeah.

I'm going to let me give this to Sophie. Yeah. And she's still in that role now. Is she? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm lucky. I do have a lot of people that give me lots of support.

nothing I do is happening on its own really as the support of my redirection including Richard of course yes I mean I really want to talk about him a bit now as well but I want to stay on being a mother because you know you then went on to become a mother and you were famous and then funnily enough in in 2021 you know with kitchen disco that happened again I mean you begin again and begin again

Well, I've often made things. If Sophie, Ellis, and Bexter have been three different people, we would have split up so long ago. We'd be on our, like, fourth, fifth reunion tour by now. Like Crosby stills and that. Sophie, Ellison, Bexter. Yeah. I have had no opportunity to split up. No.

For where I go. But it's amazing. I thought in lockdown, the really interesting thing was that the nation became broadcasters. Yes. Quite a few people were just starting. their own thing. I remember thinking, wow, like no telly. Yeah. What's going to happen? What are we going to do? And Michael and I were split. So we weren't living together. And so he went off to live up in Hertfordshire and I was living in Sussex. In fact, at that point I was in Kent.

So we were a long way from each other. I don't know. Is that? And but he obviously is a head. hairstylist and he did lives every day telling people what to do with their hair, how to cut their children's hair, how do you colour your hair, how do you look after it, giving people tips and hints because they couldn't get to the hairdressers. And you did something similar like let off some steam, do this with your kids, let's have a party together. But it was also a really wonderful insight into you and your relationship with your kids. your home like it was

there was so many things to get out there but it was one of my favourite things about lockdown was you dancing like it was just amazing

but you didn't I bet you didn't think that when you started it no well I actually finished the first one saying I think

that's the end of my career because I felt like Yes like literally because I felt like maybe I wasn't sure if we were reading the room right. I knew what I felt like I needed, but...

Yes, I see what you're saying, like... I don't know if... Are people really struggling and are they going to think how frivolous, you know? Oh, what? But it was the opposite. It was the opposite. Yeah. And actually it was Richard's idea to do the first one. He said, oh, because I was feeling really restless, discombobulated, missing people, missing music, performing. It was such a heavy time. And he said, why don't we live stream, like you do it, singing a party? set. And I said, that is a crazy idea, but I haven't got anything else I'm doing. So yes. So we did

the first one and I sort of waited, you know, to see what the reaction was like that. Like, yeah, like, oh no, everybody's going to say, what are you doing? But then all these lovely, lovely messages were coming and I thought, oh, this is, this is actually okay. It's okay. And it's funny because obviously I do, I do sing for a living. But the kitchen disco was very much about my relationship with music and people. Yes. It wasn't really about the day job at all. It was about needing to invite people over, as you say, that catharsis, a little bit of escape.

Just change the tone just for a minute, just 20 minutes, half an hour of being a bit silly, getting together. I would have, you know, my friends and family I knew were watching so they could see the kids. You know, my youngest was a baby. It was one. So the grandparents could all see the grandbabies and what they were. up to you that week. And see them happy. See them happy. See us being silly. And it really worked. I liken it to, um, it was like having a non-alcoholic drink when that bit where your brain

reads it is giving you a bit of an upper. Even though really we hadn't seen anyone, we haven't gone anywhere. There had been no party. There had been no gig. I would tidy up the house afterwards and I'd half expect to find remnants of people. Yes. Yeah. It's, yeah, it was a very strange time. but it was so pure. I would cry all the time as well. Like if I sang a song that was a bit more sad, I would cry because all my emotions were so close to the surface all the time. Like everybody.

Very, just felt quite sort of unarmoured, I think. Do you know, for me it's quite nice to hear you say that because I've met quite a lot of people who loved lockdown. Yeah, me too. And who loved the isolation and I cried all the time. Yeah, I found it really tough. I found it cruel. I found the cruelty of thinking seeing people you love might mean they get very, very sick and they might die.

That was so heavy to me. But, you know, everybody had their own stories of what was happening and some people have experienced extraordinary pain as well. So whilst I did lose my stepdad during that time, which was awful, at least we were allowed to have a funeral together when we did. We're all, none of us were travelling, we were all together, we could support one another. So I'm actually grateful to have us having that time together as well. But yeah, you know, if people found that good aspects, I'm really happy about that. Of course, we found some good aspects too. I loved being with the kids all that time.

Yes. But I haven't lost sight. I didn't need a global pandemic to teach me what mattered to me. I already knew that. So it's just a matter of us getting through it, really. I am I've just thought about something around the time when you were recovering

and you were talking about your mum and your mum went with you to France and she actually gave us some diary excerpts from that time when she was talking about you and how she was feeling do you mind if I her diary?

Yeah. Oh, God. My mum is so private. Do you mind if I read a couple? I really, I'm not going to put my glasses on. My mum's saying I'm private and shy. I think as a mum and you're a mum now and we've both got daughters and reading this now. It's so powerful seeing as a mum the things you have to go through about how much she love your daughter. Yeah.

So this one is from Thursday, the 26th of June. What year? 2008. Oh, okay. It was very early then. Kate feeling down today. I'm finding it hard to know what to do with her. Lots of tears today.

The psychologist has said we must let her cry. She needs to release her emotions. But as a mum, I just want to comfort her. She's my child. I just want to make her better but I can't I have to learn to stand back She has to feel able to express her anger, hurt and pain in any way she wants Thought we'd go to Marwell Zoo

But got there too late So went for a walk by River in Winchester Kate's still nervous and unhappy at being out The thing I got from that Was Letting you feel and holding space for you. But how hard that must have been for her as a mum.

She'd try and get me out and we'd go to like pound shops, charity shops. The zoo, Marwell Zoo was the old school trip, so it was like a familiar place. And then she'd like pack a cool bag of like medication, sandwiches, liquidised food for me. And then I'd get there and refuse to go in. and it or in worse a days we'd go in the pound shop and we'd be asked to leave and it would like things would just be a shit show because of how you yeah i mean my appearance was so different I had like a shaved head a plastic face mask purple face and I sometimes think um people thought I was like contagious or had some kind of disease or and people would follow me around the

shop pointing at me and then it would cause like a whole scene and like just just things would It would always be like the intention to just, you know, like with your mum, you just moot you around, don't you, looking at things. And it was like all those simple things in life you take for granted was so hard to do. But mum kept trying because in like a really practical way, I needed to leave home again. But the offer was there to stay there forever. But they didn't want me to stay there forever. But I did want to stay there forever. to stay there forever at first, I think, because I was sort of like not really, it's so funny

when people talk about me, right? It's like, oh, you're so inspirational, you're doing all these busy things and it's like, yeah, but I wasn't, that's not what recovery is. It was small time, small goals. It wasn't setting up businesses, setting up charities. I wanted to stay at home forever for a long, long time. But how long? At one point, like it felt like forever, you know. But I think things change, you know, and people always look like when they narrate a story, they look for like this big moment. And I don't think life's like that. I think it's small moments, small things, repetition. You know, recovery isn't a movie with a nice wrapped up end scene. It's sort of like doing things and it being terrible and then doing it again. And it's not so terrible.

You know, it was like consistency and repetition. We've got another one here. And this one is July 2008. Sometimes dealing with her is like treading on eggshells. You can't say anything right. You get accused of being patronising or not caring enough. Sometimes there's no answer and really Kate doesn't want an answer. She just wants to let off steam.

Totally get that. And we are the first in the firing line. We have to be very strong and recognise that it's not personal. She's attacking the situation, not us. Letting out her frustrations and anger. I try not to let it affect me, but it does. I need to stay calm. It's so hard seeing her and so much turmoil.

There's so much going on, so many appointments to organise in so many places. Kate tries so hard to be positive. so we have to do our part and not let her see if we get upset. It is unfair. She is the one suffering the most. We have to let her rant and rave, be happy or sad, stay in her PJs all day if she wants to. Sometimes I'm glad that she feels safe enough to let it all out on us.

I know that no matter what, we will never desert her or stop loving her. and when we come out of all of this, we will be stronger than ever. She should come on here? Well, you know what? That's quite weird, you said that. As I was reading that, that is exactly what I thought as a parent to, she also went on her own journey. Right?

I think a big learning curve is holding space for someone you really fucking love. Yeah. To feel the feelings and not try and take it. them away no matter how uncomfortable they make you feel? You're right, because when people are going through stuff, the people that are supporting them ask you for advice. And it's like, it's not about you. Stop trying to fix people. Stop, you can't take it away. And that's why it's so traumatic. And I think what she said there about me, like, we've got so much better about talking about mental health. But there's still only like surface level acceptable mental health, which is like sad, anxious.

but real mental health is like being aggressive and psychotic and violent. And like what my mum's talking about is I was really aggressive and like vocal and shouty and angry. And that's not really like the nice mental health we see on those squares. That's still quite shameful. But what I rather liked about what she said is that she had an absolute understanding. And I think as a parent, I think you'll get this, that. You were a, she, sorry, she was a safe place for you to be angry.

Like if you'd have been with somebody else, a friend of hers, you might not have felt free enough to feel fucking furious. But because it was your mother and you knew she loved you. She was a safe enough place to really fucking feel it. Would that be fair? I could even guess what happened that day that she wrote. that entry because I smashed up my childhood bedroom and they let me so I could hide it from the world. And they never said anything.

And they used to do this thing for me called face care. It was part of my treatment. Like when I came back from France, you have to have face care. So face care is like when you're doing it from home with what you've got, it's just like a tub of E-45 and you just lay on the bed. And you hang your head and your neck off the bed to stretch your burn and you massage it. And mum would do face care and then I would feel like all, like wet. And I was like, and obviously I'm blinding one eye, right?

So I'd be like, and then I realised mum was crying on my face silently. So it was in mum's room that had an on-suit bathroom. So mum would swap with Dad and be like, I need a wee. And then the un-suit bathroom had a fan and she pulled the fan. It would have been gone ages for a wee. So you couldn't hear. And then dad would take over. And then I'd be feeling like this.

saying wet and I'd be like, what is happening? Then Dad would go into the bathroom, the farmer stay on, then mom would come back and they would do like shifts like that. And we used to play audio books. I had like a ghetto blaster. Yeah, CD. I had CDs in a ghettoes. We used to play like Deepak Chopra.

This was even before people like Mel Robbins. It was like Rhonda Brine, like the secret, you know, like the really early day. And we used to play all that. And I'd come out and be like, oh, you'd missed CDA. You were in there for ages. I'm on CDB. Almost not realizing because I was, you know, yes and no. Like the dare gave birth to my first child and I was a mum.

I rang my mum and I was like, sorry. Because now I'm a mum and now I understand. And yeah, I understand more now I'm a parent. But yeah, I knew some of it. but it was like because I had a lot of post-traumatic stress I was always in like fight or flight. Yes. So it was difficult.

I'd like to quickly talk about something that I am, you are. Yes, yes. And that is a stepmom. Ah, I know, isn't it cool? Can you just talk me through what it's like being a stepmom for you? It is so fun. I just have the best time with them because I'm like that fairy godmother that gives them all the sugar

and all the ice cream and then sends them back. And their mother, who I love dearly, is sort of like, they're bouncing off the wall. And I'm like, sorry. But, you know, I think that's the fun part of being a stepmom. Like, you can do those naughty things. And, you know, I take them out. And I took them to an Ed Shearhan concert.

Wow. I met Ed Shearer. And, like, I was giving it all to these kids. I was very much, like, I cared about making them feel. like comfortable and safe and I wanted them to feel safe around me and you know I love my partner so much so it was just about creating a great environment for these kids to thrive and now they're like one's a teenager just turned and she's got her phone so now we're like texting it's so cool and she's like hey miss you I'm like hey girl miss you too and it's just such a healthy

I'm very lucky I've got really great stepkids like these girls are just the coolest kids ever ever And also, let's big up the mums. And big up, being able to have a good relationship, I think, with your stepkids' mum is mega. And I respect it and I understand it and I appreciate it, you know, and to have that space to let me, you know, hang out with her kids. It's, I just, I feel as if, I mean, I didn't get a book. There was no one teaching me on how to be a stepmom. I don't think, I know there's probably books out there and things, but there's, There's a lot you're navigating.

You as a step-mom, what does that mean? You with the kids. You with the mother. You know, you understanding the dynamic. You know, I'm not professional, but I definitely feel like I was lucky and I did it the right way. I know that it may not be as easy for others. So, yeah. Yeah, I mean, it's a complicated journey for lots of people.

Yeah. But it's a very fulfilling one, I think. Oh, yeah. And when they just kind of give you that one hug, you're like, Yeah.