The radio and TV presenter Siân Welby spends her weekdays interviewing stars such as Sir Elton John and Scarlett Johansson in glorious locations. However, it’s not all glitz and glamour, the 39-year-old tells HELLO!.
While she has "hit a real high", Siân remains as down to earth as ever and admits that balancing the demands of work and being a new mother can be a struggle.
"I've got the guilt that I would love to stay at home, but I've also got the career that I can't just abandon after 15 years of slogging away," says the presenter, who is best known for co-hosting the Capital Breakfast radio show alongside Jordan North and Chris Stark.
As well as waking up the nation over the airwaves or presenting the entertainment segment on ITV's This Morning, Nottingham-born Siân has a 17-month-old daughter, Ruby, with her fiancé, the radio producer Jake Beckett.
WATCH: Sian Welby's baby Ruby makes her TV debut
The TV star, who got engaged in August 2023, is hoping to return to her countryside roots for her wedding. She also has big plans for her career and would jump at the opportunity to present BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing after the departure of the hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.
Here, Siân opens up about balancing work with being a new mother, her career dream and what the bathroom in Elton's manor house was like.
What’s it like being a mother?
"I'm loving it. I've always loved kids but in this crazy job you always think, 'How on Earth would I do it?' Finding the work-life balance is always going to be hard. Some days I'm nailing it, some days I'm not."
How do you manage that balance?
"I've got a lot of dream jobs that I'm trying to keep functioning while being a good mum and getting the balance of that right. That is really tough. I'm at the point where I've hit a real high in my career. I don't think I'm quite exactly where I aim to be yet, but I'm in such a privileged place, and I'm so happy and lucky to do the jobs I do.
"But I think sometimes you have to step out of it to realise how far you've come, because when you're in it, all you ever talk about is the next job. When Tess and Claudia said they were stepping down from Strictly, I had every mate WhatsApp me going, 'You need to do this job!'"
Would you like to do it?
"Obviously that would be awesome. These sorts of jobs are once-in-a-lifetime iconic roles. If I was even considered or allowed to screen test for it, that would be enough."
"I've got a lot of dream jobs that I'm trying to keep functioning while being a good mum and getting the balance of that right."
Have you started planning your wedding?
"I think my brain is at capacity. I'm just about functioning and being able to talk on the radio, do a little bit of telly, be a mum and get enough sleep, and I don't know where I'd start.
"We will do it because I love a wedding and I'd like to do it properly."
What type of wedding would you like?
"Part of me, and I think Jake as well, would love to go abroad, but it wouldn't work practically. A lot of my side of the family are quite old or a little bit fragile, and you do want your family there.
"I'd probably go back to those country roots and do a big barn. I don't want it to be some intimate thing, because I think a wedding is actually about seeing everybody."
Siân and Jake Beckett have been engaged since 2023
"I don't want it to be some intimate thing, because I think a wedding is actually about seeing everybody."
Sian on her dream wedding
Do you have any stand-out interviews?
"We were supposed to do one with Elton at the Palladium and it got cancelled. We all went, 'Oh, what a shame.' And then they asked, 'Do you want to come to his house?' I was like, 'Are you kidding me? Yes!'
"That in itself was the coolest thing, and I didn't really even need the loo but asked to use his downstairs bathroom just so I could say I had. It was awesome. It had plaques of all his achievements."
What's your big dream?
"To be doing something on television that I can own. A bit like how the Capital Breakfast show has evolved. I'm as much a part of it as Jordan and Chris. We are heavily involved in the output and the content. I would like to be part of a TV show where I put my own stamp on it.
"But there’s always a part of you that wants to make a difference to real people. Some of the best things I do on Capital are when we surprise our listeners, someone that’s really deserving, with a makeover, money or a house.
"I'd like to do something where, yes, it's glitz and glam and funny, but at the crux of it, you do something really good."
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