Julia Bradbury said she feels no guilt in relying on a nanny to look after her three children as she juggles her hectic work life.
The former Countryfile presenter is mum to son Zephyrus, four, and twins Xante and Zena, one, with husband Gerard Cunningham.
Julia said she was pragmatic in her domestic set-up, even when it meant her kids picked nanny Jenny, who she described as like a “big sister”, to comfort them over her.
Speaking at the launch of 22 Ideas That Saved the English Countryside, she told MailOnline: “I think as the parent you’ve got to give your nanny as much autonomy as you possibly can.
“There are no jealousies – if one of them falls over and goes to her I can’t go ‘oww!’ because if I’m not there, I need that to happen.”
She continued: “Jenny is like a big sister to the children and she’s very natural if we’re in the room together. You have to be sensible about it. You can’t feel guilty.”
She said life would be impossible without her live-in nanny, although family often helped too.
“There’s no such thing as a 9 to 5 in my situation. It’s just about all planning together and making sure you’ve got the gaps covered,” she said.
Julia, 45, became pregnant for the first time in her forties and said before that she had been “purely selfish” in focusing solely on her career and her social life.
She now juggles motherhood with her own show, ITV’s Best Walks With A View, a book, a website and a packed calendar of events.
She said women were still stuck between a rock and a hard place when it came to “having it all”.
“I think it’s harder than it’s ever been, because in one way women have more choices than they’ve ever had, and in another way not very much has changed for women.”
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