Stacey Solomon giving up her career to become a stay-at-home mother

Stacey Solomon has revealed she’s planning on becoming a stay-at-home mother for her five children and plans to virtually give up TV shows.

Stacey, 34, told the Glad We Had This Chat podcast that she’s going to try and only work on ventures that can be done at home apart from the occasional ‘passion project’.

She said her older two sons have now reached an important stage in their lives, and she also wants to spend more time with her youngest three, who she had with husband Joe Swash, than she did with her first two boys when they were small.

Stacey is mother to eldest son Zachary, 16, from her relationship with former boyfriend Dean Cox, a second son Leighton, 12, fathered by her ex-fiancé Aaron Barnham, and Rex, five, first daughter Rose, two, and a second Belle, 15 months, with her now husband, former EastEnders actor Joe Swash.

Since first finding fame singing on The X Factor, Solomon has carved out a busy TV career in a host of shows including Celebrity Juice, Celebrity Gogglebox, Loose Women, and most recently Stacey Solomon’s Craft Christmas and Stacey Solomon’s Renovation Rescue.

But she said: ‘I definitely feel like I’m at a pivotal moment in my life where Zach is about to leave school and become an adult.

‘I think I’m at a point in my life where I recognise that I’ve been really busy for his life, and his life is at a really important point, and my second son will get to that point before I know it.

‘And then I’ve got these three babies. I don’t want to miss what I potentially feel like I missed with my older children.

‘And I want to be there for my older children, who I think need me now more than ever. I’ve been battling with that in my head.’

She continued: ‘Every year I have a team meeting with my agent and everyone on the team to say “What’s your plan, what’s your goals, blah, blah, blah”.

‘And this year when they asked me my five-year goals, I was like “I want to be a stay at home mum”.

‘That is like my dream, my ultimate dream. I just want to be with my kids.

‘I mean it is conflicting, because I also want to fulfil my dreams and my goals and the things that I’m passionate about, because if I don’t have that, will I feel unfulfilled?

‘So what I’m trying to do at this point is make sure everything that I work on I can work on 90% of the time at home. And then just do passion projects outside of the house, and then try and be around for them more.

‘I love being a mum.

‘I have to sing for my grandma once a year – she’s already booked me in. That’s about all I’m going to do with the singing career.

‘And then TV’s also going to be a small circle – all provided I’m lucky enough to carry on doing it. One minute you’ve got two TV shows that want you and the next you’ve got none.’

But Stacey added: ‘As I’ve got older I’ve got less mum guilt because I actually think I’m phenomenal, I’m a phenomenal mum.

‘I think if you’re a mum who loves to be out at work, and I’m the mum who’s like “Ooh, I love playing with sand and cr*p at home” they’re both good mums.

‘I don’t understand why one is better than the other in my opinion.

‘Whatever phase of life I’m at, I might be this mum right now, but in two years’ time if let’s say I’ve decided to stay at home and never work again, in two years I might feel like I want to go back to work.

‘Does that make me a bad mum? No. It makes me a human that my children can see that I am still a human being, not just mum. I’m not a mythical creature with no feelings and no ambition.’

But she thinks having to struggle and work hard in her early years as a mother with Zach has in some ways turned him into a better person.

She said: ‘I think I did the best job with the first one. They’re all special in different ways, but I dragged Zach up – we were in a situation.

‘And I was like, “you’re going to get through this situation with me”, and I dragged him through life to make sure our heads kept above the water.

‘And I think that makes him a whole different person. 

‘If he ever sees me struggling, or Joe struggling, he dives in for it. He’s so helpful and so in tune to what other people are feeling.’

It comes as Stacey’s future as a fixture on popular daytime talk show, Loose Women, was the subject of speculation among fans, since she stepped away from regular appearances 18 months ago. 

She was last seen on the panel in 2022 before taking maternity leave with baby daughter Belle.

Earlier this month she made a return to the ITV show for the first time since giving birth in November and whilst viewers were delighted to see her back, it seems the appearance was short lived and it is unlikely she will resume her role as a full-time panelist anytime soon.

Speaking to The Sun, Stacey’s Loose Women co-star, Linda Robson, 66, revealed the mum of five is ‘too busy’ to return to a full time job as she has her hands full with various other projects.

She said: ‘She’s not going to be a regular anymore? I don’t think so, but you never know.