This Morning presenter Cat Deeley has spoken candidly about the guilt she feels when balancing her career with time spent with her two young sons. The 47-year-old, who recently returned to the UK after living in California, admitted she often worries she is not fully present, whether at work or with her children.
During a discussion on the ITV show, Deeley confided: “There’s always that level of guilt where, if you’re at work, [you wonder]: ‘What am I missing out on with the boys?’ Then if I’m with the boys, ‘Ooh, I need to answer this email really quickly’ and I’m not doing a good job there.” She added that it sometimes feels like “you’re losing the battle.”
The conversation also featured influencer and Good Morning Britain panellist Ashley James, who argued that it is increasingly difficult for women to “have it all”. James previously caused a stir by describing motherhood as “monotonous” and “boring”, and admitted she struggled to find her “maternal instincts”. She told GMB: “When I had my son, I found it really boring and everybody always said: ‘Every moment is worth it’, so I thought I was the devil.”
One viewer responded to the debate on Twitter, writing: “No, we can’t have it all, whatever that is. We were sold a myth. The reason we can’t have everything we want, is that something has to give and sacrifices must be made… Good enough is good enough!”
Elsewhere in the programme, Deeley issued an apology for a joke she made about having a seizure on Monday’s episode, which some viewers felt mocked epilepsy sufferers. One fan accepted the apology, tweeting: “I thought the apology from @catdeeley on @thismorning regarding her seizure comment yesterday was truly genuine.”
