Kevin Clifton has revealed he worries his daughter Minnie may grow up with the same anxious outlook he has, rather than the optimistic approach to life shown by her mother, Stacey Dooley.
The former Strictly Come Dancing professional, who met Stacey on the show in 2018, spoke about the "difference" between them on the Actors Safe Space podcast with fellow Strictly alumnus Ore Oduba.
Different outlooks on life
Kevin, who left his role as a professional dancer on Strictly in 2020, explained how he and the documentary filmmaker view the world differently. He said: "Me and Stacey are very different. Stace is very... she's such an optimistic, and vibrant, and happy, and positive person, that's not to say that I'm really depressive or something!"
He described how Stacey wakes up full of wonder and enjoyment of the world, adding: "She says all the time, 'I never want to die, I just want to live forever because it's wicked, because it's brilliant!' Like, when do you hear people say that?"
Kevin contrasted his own tendency to anticipate danger with Stacey's more spontaneous approach: "Whereas I'm living in this world of like, 'what's going to hurt me a few steps down the road? What's the danger? How can I prepare for that? How can I guard against it?'"
Wishes for daughter Minnie
He said he does not want Minnie, who is three years old, to grow up with the same constant worry: "I just want her to have a love of life like her mum does, and so I want to try and create that for her and just let her know that everything's safe and therefore everything's brilliant! Go and explore, go and jump out of a plane or whatever the hell that you want to do!"
Ore suggested that Minnie would feel safe because "she knows that you'll be at the bottom to catch her," and Kevin agreed, saying: "If I can create that feeling of the safety that I'm trying to always do for myself in terms of my over-preparation, if I can put that work in and make the world feel fun and safe, then she can just go and enjoy it because I've put the preparation in for her."
Move to Liverpool
Kevin and Stacey moved from London to Liverpool with Minnie in 2023, a move Stacey has credited with making her feel "happy" and "very calm."
Speaking on SpareRoom's podcast Home Again, Stacey said the decision was not a long-planned one: "It's not like it was a very, sort of, sensible, thought-through plan. It was more like, 'I want this house. Let's do it'. And Kev's such a good sport cos everyone's like, 'You're moving from London to Liverpool?'"
She added: "I was like, 'Yeah'. They were like, 'How long have you thought about this?' I was like, '(I) decided last week'. They were like, 'And Kev's chill with that?' I was like, 'You know, Kev's pretty relaxed.' Like, if I say, 'Oh we're going to'...If I said to Kev tomorrow, 'We're moving to the Isle of Skye', I think he would actually just move to the Isle of Skye."
Stacey Dooley's Australia: Off the Beaten Track airs on Sunday 15 November from 9pm on Channel 4.
