TV presenter Angela Scanlon has offered a rare glimpse into her family life, describing a Christmas of "total carnage" and revealing how she and her husband plan to steal some precious time together.
A Festive Season of 'Divide and Conquer'
The flame-haired star, 42, recently travelled back to her native Ireland for the holidays with her husband, Roy Horgan, and their two young daughters. The logistics, she admits, were a military-style operation. "My husband took the eldest and drove back so we had the car there, then I flew with the youngest," Scanlon explained. "We divided and conquered, right? We're like the royals."
Staying with their large extended families meant the celebrations were wonderfully chaotic. With her father being one of fourteen siblings and nine grandchildren on her side, plus eight more at her husband's family home in Cork, the atmosphere was bustling and full of joy.
Protecting Privacy in a Public Life
Despite her high-profile career on shows like Strictly Come Dancing and The One Show, Scanlon is fiercely protective of her family's privacy. She has made a conscious decision never to show her daughters' faces on social media. "My husband's not in the showbiz world. He's private, and I'm oddly private in my own way," she stated.
This boundary is so established that her seven-year-old daughter, Ruby, now asks if a photo is destined for the internet. "I'm like, 'Babes, I never put you online. I put your little ponytail online every so often,'" Scanlon shared with a laugh. She emphasised her desire to protect her children's childhood, saying they are "under my watch until they're 18" when it comes to entering the public eye.
To mark her 42nd birthday on 29 December, the couple have planned a well-deserved escape. "We go away, just the two of us. The grandparents look after the girls and we're away overnight. Dreamy!" she revealed.
From The Apprentice Boardroom to a 'Word of the Year'
Scanlon can currently be seen on BBC One's The Celebrity Apprentice: Christmas Special, raising money for Children in Need. She described the intense atmosphere created by Lord Alan Sugar. "There was a temperature drop in that room," she recalled of the boardroom, praising Karren Brady as "steely" and co-star Mike Soutar for saying "a lot with his eyes."
Looking ahead to the New Year, the presenter has a unique alternative to resolutions. "I don't like a New Year's resolution, but I do like a 'word of the year'," she explained. This year's word was "ease," which she jokes didn't quite work out, while the previous year's was "surprise." She is currently still deciding on her guiding word for the coming year.
