Sian Welby on the pressure of being the breadwinner, beating imposter syndrome & feeling like a ‘bad mum’

SHE’S the bright, effervescent radio host who helps wake up the nation.

But in our exclusive, no-holds barred chat Siân Welby talks about the reality of life away from her glam job, bagging the This Morning gig and why she’s a one-and-done mum.

IT might feel like Siân Welby is an overnight success, but her career has been 16 years in the making.

The 39-year-old Nottingham-born TV and radio presenter was discovered while working in New Look when she was cast in an advert for a magazine – a job that led to her becoming a weather girl on Channel 5.

“I went from shop girl to weather girl in 2010, but even that took a long time – around eight years,” she says, smiling.

‘I have earned my stripes’

“I like to think I represent that Taylor Swift attitude of ‘no one can out-work you’. I knew there were people who had more followers or were more famous, but I kept going. Even now, I know I’ll always be up against influencers and reality stars for jobs because they are ‘of the moment’.

“It used to worry me and I would think: ‘I’ll never get the chance,’ as TV bosses will always want the next Love Islander or Big Brother star, but then it hit a point where I thought: ‘I have earned my stripes. I’m very reliable.

“You can throw me into live TV and I’ll do the research and I’ll be prepared. I know I’m worth something.

“It’s not a cocky thing, but I don’t have imposter syndrome any more.”

And it felt like in 2020 all that hard work was finally paying off. She had landed her dream job as part of the Capital Breakfast Show team, alongside Roman Kemp and Sonny Jay.

Then, a few months after Holly Willoughby quit This Morning, she got the call to do a week on the sofa in January 2024.

Finally, it seemed like her career was about to go stratospheric – then she found out she was pregnant. In fact, one of the first people she told was the stylist on a Fabulous cover shoot she did at that time.

“I talk about that Fabulous cover quite a lot,” she says, giggling. “I was sucking in my bump the whole time. I was just on the cusp of it popping, because a few weeks later there was no hiding it.

“I told the stylist and said: ‘This is a massive overshare as I haven’t even told half my family that I’m pregnant.’ I was waiting to have my 20-week scan.”

Siân decided not to let TV bosses at This Morning know either, as she was so keen not to lose her big break.

“I thought: ‘This is my moment to prove that I really can host a show like that. But if I say I’m pregnant, it’s all going to be about that.’ I’m thinking: ‘Is it going to be in the exec’s head: “Oh, Siân will be off, we can’t get her doing this because we will establish her on the show, then she’ll go on maternity leave.”’

“I kept thinking: ‘I can’t blow this.’ I wanted to get my week on This Morning done when no one knew I was pregnant, so they could judge me on my work. But I did tell the bosses the week after the scan.”

Siân had a baby girl, Ruby, now 18 months, with her fiancé Jake Beckett, 33, in June 2024, but because of her worries over losing her career, she only took three months of maternity leave, which is something she now regrets.

“That’s the reality, isn’t it?” she says. “You have to make decisions in life. I had momentum, and I thought: ‘I can’t totally let this drop because what a shame, I’ve finally got these shows that I want to do.’

“We had just launched the new breakfast show with Jordan North [after Roman Kemp left in March 2024], I’d covered This Morning as a host and I was thinking: ‘Oh my god, I should be hustling at my best and working non-stop.’ And I had to stop.”

I’m very comfortable in boy company. Everyone’s got a different approach, but mine has always been that when I’ve worked with boys I’ve got to gain their respect and be treated like one of them

Sian Welby

It sounds as if she treasured that time, though. “I love being a mum and really enjoyed having that time with Ruby,” she says.

“The reality is, I would have taken longer if I had a different job, but I don’t. And I don’t get maternity leave or paid if I’m off – and I’ve got a mortgage.

“But Jake worked at Global [the company that owns Capital], too and they let him do shared paternity, so he basically took a year off work and had a lovely time.

“It’s not always fair on dads that they get two weeks’ paternity leave, and that’s that. For some people, it suits them way more to have the dad at home. It might be that the mum is the one who has the better job. It’s too old-fashioned to presume roles – the set-up needs an overhaul in general.”

Siân is honest about the fact that she is the breadwinner at the moment.

‘I never want my co-presenters to fancy me’

“We’re very open about that,” she says. “It’s just the way it is. And I always say to Jake that things in life change. As we go through our life, he might be the bigger earner. If he’d met me earlier, he would have had the larger salary. So it did make sense for me to go back to work.

“But I had control of what I did. I did the radio show and one day a week at This Morning. I was knackered, but by 10am, I was mostly done. That’s my limit, as I know I want to be home with our baby. I would regret it if I missed her whole childhood.

“Sometimes, I’m at an awards do and I’m thinking: ‘Oh, I’ve missed bath and bedtime and I want to be there.’ I have to constantly pick and choose when work takes priority and when it’s home. It’s a hard juggle.”

What is most refreshing about Siân is she doesn’t hide how difficult it is trying to “have it all”.

She posted on Instagram recently about how a difficult few weeks of parenting left her feeling like a “bad mum”.

“Ruby is amazing, with a great sense of humour,” she explains. “I always put my best bits on Instagram, but I wasn’t sharing when I’m in a whirlwind of the bad stuff.

“I had a bit of guilt that people were saying: ‘I don’t know how you do it.’ I really don’t want to make it look like I’m flying and it’s easy. There are days when I don’t know how I’ve got up and out the door dressed.

“Sometimes I am surviving, not thriving. I nearly didn’t post about it because I didn’t want it to look like I wanted people to feel sorry for me. Then I had so many mums say: ‘Thanks, that made me feel like I wasn’t failing.’

“It is relentless and it’s the one thing in your life you can’t really control. All it takes is for the nursery to ring and say: ‘She’s sick, can you pick her up?’

“I’ve had situations where I’m interviewing Robert De Niro and I can see the nursery is calling me, or I’m talking to Timothée Chalamet and my other half is texting me going: ‘There’s poo everywhere, what should I do?’ My life is quite mad now!”

Mum life aside, it’s still not easy for women in the industry she’s in, but Siân is grateful that her radio bosses have never treated her differently from the boys on the team.

“I think it is still harder in terms of being paid the same, being treated the same, respected the same,” she says. “But at Global, I really am listened to when I share my ideas. I feel like I have a real voice.”

How does she fit in with her fellow male presenters?

“I’ve always been one of the boys, even at school,” she says. “I’ve always had a mixed group of mates. My female friends are all quite laddy. They’re gorgeous and glamorous, but we’re not bitchy and we don’t fall out – I haven’t got time for any of that.

I love TV and that kind of presenting. I’m old-school, so I hope TV isn’t going anywhere. But I’ve always got lots of plates spinning for that reason, because I never take the job for granted

Sian Welby

“I’m very comfortable in boy company. Everyone’s got a different approach, but mine has always been that when I’ve worked with boys I’ve got to gain their respect and be treated like one of them, so they don’t go: ‘I don’t want to say something too vulgar in front of the girl.’

“I make it clear that I’m not going to be easily offended. I can take the mick out of myself and I’m happy to give as good as I get. I also always friend-zone it very quickly, because there’s nothing worse than a weird dynamic where there is almost that flirty thing between co-presenters. I want them to never fancy me and just treat me like a sister.”

Despite the tough balancing act, Siân is hoping for a big year of work.

As well as returning to This Morning, she is co-fronting a new quiz show app, The Spin Off, with comedian Russell Kane, in addition to other projects.

“It’s nice that I’m part of the This Morning family now. I covered the show over Christmas. I actually hosted the last-ever show in the This Morning studio at Television Centre, which is quite iconic. It’s the end of an era in that building.”

ITV is moving TV production to a new studio and has announced massive cuts, as well as axing half its daytime staff, which Siân admits is worrying.

“I love TV and that kind of presenting. I’m old-school, so I hope TV isn’t going anywhere. But I’ve always got lots of plates spinning for that reason, because I never take the job for granted.

“One day you’re the presenter, the next day you’re off. The hardest thing is that the production team are my friends, and I feel really sorry for them.”

Has it made Siân think about her next steps?

“I’m still ambitious, but I have better boundaries now. It almost makes you more ambitious because you haven’t got time for the bulls**t. So if the job isn’t quite right now, I just say no to it. I want to do things genuinely, whereas in the past I did sport when I wasn’t into it, then weather when I didn’t even know geography!” she laughs.

‘The juggle is hard’

“But every job I’ve done along the way led me to the next thing. And now, I’m in a place where I really have a vision. I’m trying to always make the right move. I never like jinxing things, but I want to have something I can really own in TV. TV is not dead, people are still watching.”

This year is also going to be a time of celebrations for Siân, as she turns 40 in September.

“I’m comfortable in myself, because I feel like I’ve lived a lot of lives and I feel absolutely fine about it. There is a stigma that 40 feels like a grown-up, but I don’t feel it. I’m going to try to embrace it.

“I am tempted to go wild. I’ve got a vision of a party boat – I can’t afford a yacht, so it will probably end up being a dinghy somewhere! I don’t know yet, because I don’t usually make any effort for myself ever. But I can’t let my 40th pass me by.”

As well as her big birthday, Siân also has a wedding to plan after her engagement in August 2023.

One day you’re the presenter, the next day you’re off. The hardest thing is that the production team are my friends, and I feel really sorry for them

Sian Welby

“When we got engaged, we went full into the wedding planning. And then I got pregnant, so you think: ‘Oh god, we need a bigger house’.

“At the moment, Ruby has a tiny room and my car is a storage unit for the buggy and all the other baby stuff. So there are a few more important things I’ve got to spend my money on.

“Once we’ve moved, I’ll have a better head space to validate spending on a wedding. Even a ‘budget’ one is about £30k, and that’s bringing your own chairs! I want a big one, I’d like to have everyone there.”

As for more children, Sian is typically candid about her reasons for waiting.

“I would like to,” she says. “But I can’t even fit in my house and, genuinely, the juggle is hard. I’m not quite sure how it would work. It sounds weird to say, but realistically, I do need to be more successful, because I would need to have some help to be able to do this and also be a breadwinner.

“I am in a typically male role, but I’m a mum and I’d need different hours or a different set-up. So at the minute, I don’t think I’d be able to have another baby.”

Whatever the future holds, there’s no doubt Siân’s star is set to rise even further.

• Siân co-hosts Capital Breakfast with Jordan North and Chris Stark, weekdays, 6am-10am, Capital UK and Global Player, and is a presenter on ITV’s This Morning.