Former Strictly Come Dancing star Janette Manrara has hit back at mum-shamers who criticised her for returning to work just six weeks after giving birth to her daughter, Lyra. The 42-year-old welcomed her first child with husband Aljaž Škorjanec in July 2023.
Six weeks later, she returned to work on Morning Live, a decision that sparked backlash from some people online.
Angry at the comments
Speaking to Jamie Laing on his Great Company podcast, Janette admitted she was “angry” about some of the comments she was reading, particularly those from women.
Quizzed about receiving online abuse, she said: “I remember I was six weeks postpartum and Morning Live called me and asked me if I could come in to host and I was so excited, I was like, 'Yes!'.”
“And then I went [there] and I had an amazing time, I felt like a person again where I wasn't at home with the baby all day. Not that it wasn't lovely, it was a beautiful bubble that I was in with Lyra but I just felt so excited to go back to work.”
Backlash on Instagram
After expressing her excitement about returning to work on Instagram, Janette said she received a barrage of comments judging her decision to return so soon.
Recalling some of the comments, she said one read: “I can't believe you're leaving your child.”
Another, she claims, read: “This is the type of mother that is setting the wrong example for mothers everywhere, mothers that don't love [their child].”
She added: “I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' Where is the girl power, the female support if the first person to judge me when I'm doing something is a woman of all people?”
“That's what hits hardest,” she continued. “I can take a man being stupid, because you don't know me but as a woman to do that to each other, I was so baffled, I was angry actually. I wasn't sad, I was more angry.”
Chicago tour criticism
Janette said the backlash continued when she took on the role of Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago.
The dancer toured the UK and Ireland for six months last year, travelling at times with her daughter and husband.
“A lot of people again were like, 'How can you leave your child for six months?', I was like, I saw her once a week on the worst case, a lot of time she was with me on the road and then Aljaz had to step back from work so that I could do Chicago and he can be with Lyra,” she explained.
Last year also marked Janette's final time as one of the hosts of Strictly: It Takes Two, alongside Fleur East. The dancer took on the role following her departure as a professional dancer on the main show.
She and Fleur have since been replaced by Ellie Taylor as part of a major overhaul of this year's Strictly Come Dancing.
This weekend marks the second live week, with all 15 dancing duos returning to the dance floor for Movie Week.
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday at 6.15pm on BBC One.
