Alison Hammond nearly walked away from her television career before it took off, according to close friend and former Big Brother co-star Kate Lawler. The This Morning host, 51, was reportedly ready to resume her old job as a front-of-house usherette at a Birmingham cinema after a short-lived appearance on the reality show.
Hammond found fame on the third series of Big Brother in 2002, alongside Jade Goody and Kate Lawler. She spent 15 days inside the show's house at Elstree Studios before facing an early elimination.
Lawler's intervention
Lawler, 46, who went on to win the series, said her former housemate was initially keen to return to Birmingham and her cinema job. She told The Mirror: “Alison came to me and said, 'I think I’m just going back to work in the cinema.' I was like, ‘No, you’re way too talented to give up.’ And she carried on and worked hard and she deserves every success. It’s a hustle – there’s so much competition out there now – but you’ve got to keep hustling.”
Hammond heeded the advice and soon got a foothold in TV with a part-time presenting role on This Morning, where she attended press junkets and interviewed high-profile actors, singers and musicians.
Career highlights
She has since become one of mainstream TV's best-known presenters. Her current roles include The Great British Bake Off, For The Love Of Dogs and a forthcoming revamp of the classic '80s game show Name That Tune, as well as an elevated role on This Morning alongside Dermot O'Leary.
She joined the Strictly Come Dancing line-up for the 2014 series, partnered with professional dancer Aljaž Škorjanec, and competed in I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2010 and Celebrity MasterChef in 2014.
Lawler on friendship and family
“I love her so much and am so incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved,” said Lawler, who has built her own broadcasting career across TV and radio, including presenting roles on Capital FM and Virgin Radio. “It’s really lovely that we’re still in touch and still so close.”
Lawler welcomed daughter Noa in February 2021 with her husband Martin Bojtos, 43, who she affectionately calls Boj. Despite positive experiences of pregnancy and childbirth, she is adamant she doesn't want more children.
“When people say, ‘Just the one?’ I like to joke and say, ‘Yes, we stopped at perfection.’ But everyone is different,” she said. “I’m a proud mum of one, but I’m still a child-free by choice advocate.”
“I don’t believe you need to have kids to have a fulfilled life. I don’t believe the only thing that gives you purpose in life is children. I was happy before I had Noa and I would never turn back the clock, but I didn’t know what I was missing out on before Noa. I would have been happily child-free for the rest of my life, but it is also the most amazing feeling looking at your child and thinking, ‘I can’t believe you’re mine.’”
Lawler said she receives unwelcome comments about her choice to have just one child, and admits it's sometimes hard to brush off the negativity. Listing some remarks, she said: “That’s so selfish, what about Noa – who’s she going to play with?, surely you want to give her a brother or sister. But there’s no guarantee she’d get on with her brother or sister. And what if I can’t afford to have another child? Or what if I’m trying or can’t have another one? Someone messaged me, saying, ‘An only child is a lonely child, you should give Noa a sibling.’ I was like, ‘Oh, please.’”
“I do feel guilt – I think mum guilt exists forever,” she continued. “I don’t think there is going to be a stage in my life where I’m not going to feel guilty about something I’m doing as a mother, or not doing.”
“Noa’s in this make-believe era where she keeps pretending she’s got siblings. I start to feel guilty, where I’m like, ‘Oh God, is that because she wants one?’ But she’s a really happy girl. She’s got a great social life, so we’re never short of playdates and she’s got lots of cousins. We’ve thought long and hard about whether or not we’d cope having a second child and concluded that it’s much better to give Noa a happy and healthy Mum than a sibling.”
