I’m nonetheless mates with ex, we’re planning a Xmas getaway, says Laura Hamilton

HER ten-year marriage led to January, however TV’s Laura Hamilton says she’s nonetheless greatest mates along with her ex.

Talking for the primary time about their break up, the host of Channel 4’s A Place In The Solar reveals they even spent her latest fortieth birthday collectively.

She and husband Alex Goward, an insurance coverage dealer, moved out of their household residence earlier this 12 months.

Collectively, they’ve son Rocco, eight, and daughter Tahlia, seven.

Laura says: “We’ve at all times mentioned that we’ll co-parent our youngsters. And we additionally mentioned that we might proceed to have household holidays.

“I’m actually grateful that we’ve received a implausible optimistic parenting method.

“We would like individuals to take one thing optimistic from it, so in the event that they do, then that’s nice.”

When the pair break up, Laura took to Instagram and quoted the late American kids’s creator Dr Seuss: “Don’t cry as a result of it’s over, smile as a result of it occurred.”

It’s a telling nod to the excessive regard by which Laura holds Alex, 41.

The pair have since loved two holidays collectively, even sparking hypothesis they’ve rekindled their romance.

However Laura insists they’re simply mates and advised how she celebrated her fortieth with Alex by her facet in April.

She says: “Everybody says your 40s are the most effective years of your life so I’m like, ‘Sure, let’s have it then’.

“I had a extremely, actually pretty birthday celebration. I had 60 individuals to dinner, together with all my household, each side of the household, Rocco and Tahlia’s dad, my in-laws and my mum and pa.

“Sixty individuals got here to this meal I had at Aldo Zilli’s home. Then I took the children to the Maldives for per week and had some good particular time after which I went with the ladies to Kefalonia.

“I sort of milked my fortieth birthday however I believed, ‘You understand what, I’ll solely flip 40 as soon as’.

‘While you’re youthful, women are catty with one another’

“The factor about me is I like planning a celebration and I like being a bunch, so it was nice to have that birthday.”

She provides: “Regardless of what’s going on on this planet or in my life, I at all times attempt to be optimistic in regards to the scenario.

“I do know that isn’t at all times the best factor to do loads of the time.

“I’ll say to the children that we will see this can be a problem however let’s attempt to take one thing optimistic from it.”

And on their Christmas plans with Alex she provides: “We’re going snowboarding on Boxing Day.

“That will probably be one other household vacation — my ex-partner is coming and the kids are actually enthusiastic about that.

“It’s good. We are able to’t wait.”

I used to be filming on the home and the cameraman was laughing as a result of I used to be really within the skip and he was like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’.

Laura Hamilton

In relation to romance, Laura says she has no time for brand spanking new love as a result of she’s too centered on renovating her home, which she purchased after the break-up.

And whereas she shouldn’t be again on the relationship scene, she admits she does have overzealous followers sending her impolite pics.

She says: “Through the pandemic somebody despatched me an image of what I believed was them in a face masks — but it surely was a face masks protecting their non-public components and a string up their bum.

“Each time I get something like that, something actually inappropriate, I simply delete it and block them.

“I don’t know why individuals assume I would really like that.

“After I get negativity, I simply don’t wish to learn it.”

And what about somebody sliding into her DMs?

“I actually haven’t considered that,” she says. “I haven’t received time for that, I’m too busy renovating the home.

“Yesterday I used to be filming on the home and the cameraman was laughing as a result of I used to be really within the skip and he was like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’.

“I used to be crushing the garbage down within the skip.

“I mentioned, ‘Life isn’t at all times glamorous, you understand.’

“He thought it was hilarious. It’s a facet of me that individuals don’t know, I’m very palms on and builders respect the truth that I wish to be concerned within the challenge.

I really feel just like the older you get as a girl there’s a community of girls that rally round you. It appears like when you’re youthful, women are catty with one another. However now girls really feel a lot extra supportive.

Laura Hamilton

“I received again on Friday and mentioned to them, ‘Guys, this isn’t good, I’ve received to maneuver in six weeks’.

“So I began doing the roles myself and lit a bonfire in my backyard.

“The final time I did that I almost burnt the home down.

“I can generally be slightly gung-ho and be like, ‘I simply wish to do that now’.

“It’s been a loopy 12 months with being away, with work and shifting residence, and I’ve began doing filming with This Morning.

“However the primary factor I wish to do is to get my home sorted and look ahead to 2023, no matter that will convey.”

Laura shot to fame on kids’s tv, presenting ITV present Enjoyable Music Manufacturing facility and different sequence on Nickelodeon.

She starred on Dancing On Ice in 2011, ending in second place.

Since her break up, she says, fellow feminine stars, together with Tess Daly and Tamzin Outhwaite, have rallied around her, including there’s a supportive “lady squad” in showbusiness.

She says: “I’ve been working fairly a bit not too long ago with Tess Daly’s swimwear vary, and some weeks in the past I used to be at this music pageant referred to as Feastival and Tess Daly was there and Vernon was on stage presenting.

“It’s mad as a result of years in the past I used to work with Vernon for T4 as a runner.

“Vernon and Dermot O’Leary helped me, they knew I wished to be a presenter.

“I put collectively a showreel and Vernon is definitely in my showreel.

I feel in showbusiness there’s a group of older girls searching for one another.

Laura Hamilton

“After which I noticed him and Tess at this pageant and Tess mentioned to me, ‘You’re at all times on our TV at residence’. She was simply so pretty.

“I really feel just like the older you get as a girl there’s a community of girls that rally round you. It appears like when you’re youthful, women are catty with one another. However now girls really feel a lot extra supportive.

“For instance, Tess, she was like, ‘I like watching you on TV, you’re nice’.

“I’m additionally near Lucy Alexander, who presents Properties Beneath The Hammer. I discover her actually supportive and optimistic. And likewise Tamzin Outhwaite.

“The older you get it appears like let’s have a good time one another, let’s assist one another, reasonably than attempt to convey one another down.

“I feel in showbusiness there’s a group of older girls searching for one another.

“I don’t know if that’s since you develop into extra snug with who you’re after which everybody else turns into extra accepting of it too. It’s good.”

And whereas she is working exhausting on her home, taking care of the children and dealing on her TV present, Laura admits she must make extra time for herself.

Particularly since she was recognized with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), an autoimmune situation that may trigger extreme bruising and bleeding.

She says: “I not too long ago went for a spa day and it was wonderful.

“You will have occasions like that the place you go, ‘I really want to do that extra usually’.

“Generally there simply isn’t time.

They do perceive that Mummy has to work and due to that we get to do good issues.

Laura Hamilton

“Just a few years in the past I discov­ered I had ITP the place I’ve received a extremely low blood depend.

“On the time it was a wake-up name for me to understand I can’t preserve going, going, going.

“It was a warning. It’s an autoimmune illness and my mum has rheumatoid arthritis throughout her physique which can be an autoimmune illness, so it’s clearly in our genes.

“When it occurred I attempted to decelerate, however when you’re making an attempt to juggle being a mum and having your profession, it’s exhausting.

“I feel as a result of I’m constructing my home, when that’s achieved it would launch a little bit of strain.

“I like shopping for a run-down wreck and turning it into a fantastic property. It’s fairly idyllic and it’s surrounded by fields with horses in it, and there’s a lake which I can entry.

“All of my mates joke that I’ve a four-year timeframe in a home after which have itchy ft and wish to transfer on.

“However it’s been nice as a result of I’ve actually designed the whole lot from begin to end and the children have been actually concerned within the course of.

“They noticed it earlier than after we knocked it to bits after which as it’s now.

“My mates say, ‘Why don’t you do it as a enterprise, redoing homes?’. However I don’t know.

“I simply wish to be within the second too, as a result of I realise my children will develop up they usually gained’t wish to be with me anymore.

“Even on the weekend Rocco was speaking about which buddy he wished to hang around with, and I’m like, ‘Why can’t we simply hang around?’.

“It’s so thrilling attending to see their little characters develop, they’re their very own little individuals.”

Laura provides that guiding her children into adults “is by far the toughest job on this planet”.

She says: “It’s rewarding but it surely’s exhausting.

“You by no means know if you’re doing the appropriate factor by them.

“You by no means know if it’s the appropriate or flawed factor to do, and you’ll solely go by your intestine and do your greatest.

“However they do perceive that Mummy has to work and due to that we get to do good issues.”