Megan McKenna knocks mum-shaming giants and exposes ins and outs of WAG life

MEGAN McKenna is unrecognisable from her truth television days. Gone are the phony lashes, the hair extensions and the perma-tan.

Rather, she sits bare-faced with an elegant brunette bob while serenely breastfeeding her infant young boy Landon. And she looks all the better for it.

” I remain in my mum period,” she chuckles. “I simply like it. I seem like it’s the very best time of my life.

” I’m not truly glam all the time. I have actually got my brand-new hairdo, I have actually returned to my roots. I feel this is my real Megan.”

Not just does she look various, however her entire life is various.

The 32-year-old switched Essex for Germany 6 months back when her footballer fiancé Oliver Burke, 27, signed to Bundesliga club Werder Bremen.

” Truthfully, I seem like all my things in the past– the truth television and whatever– was much like getting me prepared for this sort of life,” she confesses.

” I do seem like a totally various individual now.

” And often I review video of myself and believe, ‘Was I OK?’

” I had this track record that I was really mouthy.

” I was so young. I was 22 and going on truth television programs. Television is really various now.

” When I was on a few of the MTV programs, there was a great deal of alcohol, too.

” I do not believe they would enable that nowadays.

The wedding event is going to be legendary. I can’t have some subtle thing!

Megan McKenna

” We would have had an entire container of tequila to ourselves if we had actually desired.

” At that time, I was ignorant, I was young, and regrettably a few of my least expensive minutes were played out on cam.”

She had actually currently made actions far from her truth television life by moving into the music market.

She won The X Element: Celeb in 2019, before taking a trip to Nashville to deal with a c and w album, and even carried out at Glastonbury in 2022.

However it was inviting Landon last October– who was developed by means of IVF, after tests exposed Megan had a thin womb lining, which suggested she was was not able to develop naturally– that altered whatever.

Her music profession was postponed to concentrate on being a mum– something she had actually imagined.

” I have constantly desired kids,” states Megan. “Given that I was young, I wished to have a household and get wed. I’m really family-oriented.

” It’s a genuine rollercoaster going through the phases of IVF, however it’s the very best thing we have actually ever done, and we have actually got another embryo on ice prepared to go.

” We 100% wish to have more kids.”

However before Megan contributes to her brood, there is the little matter of getting married with her Scottish fiancé this summertime.

Oliver proposed on vacation in Montenegro in June 2023, after simply 5 months of dating.

” We satisfied through a shared pal who set us up on an arranged date,” she states. “We went to Bacchanalia dining establishment in Mayfair.

” The minute I satisfied him, I had such a warm sensation. We didn’t wish to leave each other.

” I have no appointments about him being a footballer– we both comprehend each other’s tasks.

” If I require to disappear, or he does, that’s fine.

” If you date individuals beyond the market and they do not get it, it can put pressure on your relationship, however I do not need to fret with Oli.

” The engagement resembled a fairy tale. I did not think a thing.

” He purchased me this stunning attire, however I simply believed it was since he understands I like to make videos and we were going on a stunning boat journey.

” I didn’t even understand he had the ring in his pocket and he had a microphone on and a drone following us.

” I ignored it and simply taking my videos.

” Then fireworks went off and my entire household were waiting to speak with us.

” He had actually asked my papa’s approval.

” He had a band playing all our preferred tunes and made them a playlist, there were all my preferred foods and preferred flowers.

” There were simply pink roses all over. It was insane.”

After such an OTT engagement, what is the wedding event going to resemble?

” It’s generally whatever I have actually desired in my whole life,” she exposes. “It’s going to be legendary, obviously it is – I can’t have some subtle thing!

” It’s going to remain in the UK and the location is being developed. That’s all I can state.

” I have actually not been a bridezilla at all, I’m really cooled with it. The wedding event will not really have that numerous visitors.

” I do not desire individuals I do not truly see all the time there– my circle is little and I like it that method, so it’s simply really friends and household for the wedding event.

” I have actually got 3 gowns– my primary one for strolling up the aisle and after that one for after the very first dance and after that one for an after-party of the wedding event, which is going to be truly enjoyable.”

I didn’t anticipate how dreadful the mum-shaming would be

Megan McKenna

And how does it feel for her to be formally ending up being a WAG?

” It’s amusing,” she confesses. “I do not see myself as a WAG, however I expect I am!

” Oli has an incredible task and he is incredible at what he does. I discover it appealing when somebody is that driven and has their own profession.

” Plus, he’s got an incredible body!

” Oli makes me feel stunning every day, even when I may not be feeling the very best in my post-pregnancy body.”

Residing in a nation where you can’t speak the language– and as a brand-new mum, to boot– can’t be simple, and Megan is open about the difficulties it has actually presented.

” It has actually been the hardest thing I have actually ever done,” she states. “Remaining in a foreign nation and having a five-month-old.

” I can’t speak the language with confidence yet and I do not have buddies here. Thank god for FaceTime, and Oli is incredible.

” My household fly out, and now that Landon is a bit older, I am going to fly back and forth more.

” Eventually, we will move any place our professions take us, and we’ll keep our little household together.

” Oli would do the very same for me, and he’s constantly encouraging of my profession.

Horrifically mum-shamed

” It can be a little frightening that we will need to move, however I feel beyond fortunate that I have whatever I have actually ever desired, and my concern will constantly be household.

” We are going to have a UK home so I can return and forth, too.”

Not having an assistance network to assist her with Landon led Megan to be horrifically mum-shamed on social networks, where she was blasted for attempting to teach him to sleep by himself.

” I didn’t anticipate how dreadful the mum-shaming would be, to be truthful,” she states.

” Individuals begin TikTok and discuss a brief video without understanding the entire story– like when I put Landon to nap.

” He was an extremely clingy infant since of having reflux, and it was truly difficult.”

She continues: “I’m on my own all the time, as Oli is at training.

” I do not have my mum or buddies around the corner to assist me, I am by myself.

” I require to be there with him when he’s awake, so he requires to be classified some naps often in a day.

” I had actually spoken with specialists about it and was assisted by them.

Individuals judge and remark– I take no notification of it

Megan McKenna

” I got an enormous reaction that I ought to be holding my infant as he goes to sleep each time.

” Do you understand what?

” Some children may decrease quickly when you rock them, however he does not.

” I might be standing with him for over an hour. And after that if I’m rocking him and I lay him down, he gets up.

” In some cases I require to go to the toilet or I require to sleep myself. Individuals judge and remark.

” I ‘d never ever in a million years leave him shouting, however I have actually spoken with sleep therapists and I desire the very best for my infant.

” I put the material out there, so I feel in one’s bones I have actually got to take it, however I take no notification of it.”

Far from mum life, Megan– who has coeliac illness in addition to IBS and a wheat allergic reaction– wants cooking.

She even made it to the last of Celeb MasterChef in 2021, and won Celeb MasterChef Festive Extravaganza the list below year.

My love language

” It’s constantly existed, since I have actually got allergic reactions, so I needed to find out how to prepare.

” Apart from taking care of Landon, my main point is cooking and making whatever good.

” Doing Celeb MasterChef was incredible, as I wished to display the gluten-free food that I prepare and reveal individuals you can consume gluten-free and it still be good.”

This month, she’s launching her very first cookbook, Love Gluten Free, with 80 dishes for all events.

” I desired it to be around Mom’s Day, since it’s my very first one,” she states.

” I’m ruined enough, to be reasonable. However I truly desired the book to be about love in addition to food.

” I believe feeding individuals is a genuine act of love. I am a feeder, it’s my love language.”

Megan is so eager to inform individuals on food allergic reactions and intolerances that she’s ended up being an ambassador for the Natasha Allergic Reaction Research Study Structure.

The charity was established by the moms and dads of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, who passed away on a flight from London to Nice in 2016, after consuming a Pret A Manger baguette which contained sesame seeds that had actually not been consisted of on the product packaging’s active ingredients list.

” I satisfied her mum and papa at an allergic reaction program years back and I wished to get included.

” I have actually heard a few of the most dreadful stories.

Maturing, I didn’t feel regular at school and I didn’t wish to consume in front of individuals

Megan McKenna

” Individuals do not take allergic reactions seriously enough, however individuals can and do pass away from them.

” I wish to make it more inclusive so that having an allergic reaction does not seem like a problem.

” Maturing, I didn’t feel regular at school and I didn’t wish to consume my lunch in front of individuals.

” I could not consume the food at my buddies’ birthday celebrations.

” Even now, I dislike it when I need to ask a million concerns at a dining establishment about how the food is prepared and prepared, since they’ll state it’s great when it isn’t.

” It’s such a verbose procedure of monitoring, however I need to do it, since otherwise I’ll come out in hives, my lips will inflate and I can get rather ill.”

Moving forward, little Landon is going to be a taste-tester for all of Megan’s brand-new dishes.

” I’m beginning on weaning him next week, and I’m hoping it will assist with his reflux.

” Coeliac can be genetic, however allergic reactions aren’t, and I have actually discovered a lot about it.

” However if he is, he does not require to fret. His mum is a professional and can take care of him! That’s my task.”

• Love Gluten Free by Megan McKenna (₤ 22, Hamlyn) is out Thursday.