Stacey Dooley has opened up about up a change many can relate to after becoming a parent. The presenter and Strictly Come Dancing’s former professional Kevin Clifton welcomed their first baby into the world back in January 2023, a daughter named Minnie.
Since then, Stacey has been candid about co-sleeping with her toddler, and how this has sparked a shift in her relationship.
Speaking on Luke Hamnett’s Live, Laugh, Luke podcast, the pair briefly touched upon their respective relationships, after discussing Stacey’s Sleep Over episode with Lily Phillips. Lily, an OnlyFans star, gained attention in a documentary in which she claimed to have slept with 100 men in one day.
Sharing his thoughts, TikTok star Luke joked: “I couldn’t even s**g for two minutes.” Agreeing, Stacey chimed in: “Especially when you’ve got two-year-olds, and they’re still in the bed.”
She went on to say: “It’s tiresome. Sometimes, I mean, you feel obligated.” Later on in the chat, the 38-year-old shared how she had been getting on with motherhood.
She confessed: “It’s no joke, it’s rough out there and she’s two. And she’s no one’s fool, she’s so bossy and sort of won’t really entertain me at the moment.”
Stacey went on to say that Minnie is more in favour of Kevin currently, and joked that she was “terrified” of her. “I walked through the door the other day before her, and it was like I had said to her, ‘We’re never going to the park again, I’m taking all your toys, and you’re never having a roast dinner’.
“It was just fireworks and I just thought… and you don’t think you’d ponder to that, you’ve got to sort of be robust with them and tell them what’s what, [but] I’m terrified.”
Alongside parenthood, the pair are also juggling their current project together in the West End’s 2:22 A Ghost Story, where they play fictional couple Sam and Jenny.
No strangers to working alongside one another, the couple first met on Strictly Come Dancing in 2018 series, which they went on to win.
After clinching the Glitterball trophy, they later struck up a romance and haven’t looked back. Reflecting on their work together, Stacey said: “We worked together then in 2018, but obviously, you know the dynamics were so different because I was sort of led by him.
“It was very much his world, and now seven years on, I’ve done the play before so I’ve got a bit more leverage.”
Discussing their different approaches to the role, she continued: “Kev really throws himself into it and he’s very immersed and he takes it very seriously.
“I take it seriously, but we’re just pretending. And so, I sometimes feel [that] even if I want to take the p**s slightly, I don’t want to make him feel self-conscious or whatever.”