Hannah Waddingham, 50, is a fiercely protective mother after splitting from her daughter Kitty's father Gianluca Cugnetto when their chilspd was just two years old.
While she appears to be a confident and fearless parent, the Benidorm star shared a peek at her life behind the scenes, admitting her parenting fears in a new interview with Glamour.
© InstagramShe spoke openly about her decision to wait until she was in her 40s to start a family, stating she did not want to "resent" sacrificing her career for children. The irony that her career "skyrocketed" after she welcomed Kitty was not lost on Hannah, but she said her busy schedule has made her feel like a "rubbish mother."
Mum guilt
© Gareth CattermoleThe Ted Lasso actress, who was in an eight-year relationship with Italian hotelier Gianluca, said she sometimes finds solo parenting "exhausting."
"But being a single mother in your forties is not easy! I’m not going to lie, it’s quite exhausting. One of the greatest acting jobs in my life is pretending I have energy to my daughter!" she said.
"Of course, I never intended to be a single mother, but luckily I’m still on good terms with my daughter’s father, which is important," she added, stating she refused to be "weakened" by their split.
© Instagram"I do believe that when you painfully shut one door, the sun shines through the cracks of another and you have to go to it. Of course, some days I think that I’m an absolutely rubbish mother because I go out to work strange hours and I can’t always be with my girl, and I do believe women particularly have inherent guilt.
"But I’m learning to feel pride in my work and that can only be a positive thing to teach my daughter – just as I saw my mother working, my daughter now sees me, and so it continues."
Fertility struggles
© InstagramHannah admitted her path to parenthood wasn't easy, as she was told she had "low fertility" at a medical screening in 2012.
While The Fall Guy actress had not previously been ready to start a family, her feelings suddenly changed while at the London Palladium. She confessed to Today in 2023: "I was a bit like, 'Oh my God, I want a child'. It literally, it was like a wave that hit me."
Turning her back on Western medicine, she tried a "holistic, warm 360 approach" from an Eastern practitioner such as Reiki and acupuncture.
Hannah fell pregnant aged 39 and took her newborn daughter home on her 40th birthday. While she doesn't regret prioritising her career in her 30s, she has since gushed about her daughter being her "greatest achievement".
"I wanted to have a child when I was ready and to not resent that child for taking me away from my career," the doting mother-of-one explained to Glamour.
"I wanted the privilege of motherhood to work in tandem with my career, rather than me thinking, ‘God, you’re stopping me doing things…' Because the greatest gift in the world is a child."
