Countdown star Rachel Riley has opened up her evolving family life with her husband Pasha Kovalev, and their two daughters. Rachel, 39, first met Pasha, 45, on Strictly Come Dancing when they danced together on the show back in 2013.
After getting together the following year, they went on to marry in Las Vegas five years later. Since then, the pair have welcomed to little ones into their home; Maven, five, and their second daughter, Noa, who turns four in November.
Speaking to Reach PLC, Rachel spoke out about the relatable juggle of being a working mum and having a family. She shared: “It’s always changing because you get into one routine, and then the kids get bigger and they do different activities.
“I’m freelance and I live in London, I film Countdown in Manchester and Pasha, sometimes he’s working in the evenings, or he’s on tour for a month or a couple of months, so it’s all a weird juggle. So yeah, we’re just playing it by ear with everything we do really.”
Despite competing on Strictly over a decade ago, Rachel says the pair still try and find time to dance together – though these days it’s much more relaxed. “[It’s] around the kitchen,” she laughed.
Rachel says the pair’s daughters have also told their school teachers about their dance moves, both from watching them in the kitchen and videos of them from Strictly.
“I think Pash might’ve showed them some when I was away,” she shared. “So they’ve seen bits.” Seeing Pasha dancing in person, however, sparked many more questions from their youngest daughter.
“I took them both to his show, the little one had never seen him dance on stage, so she was just full of questions the whole time,” Rachel recalled. “[It was] question, question, question, question.”
Asked if she believes they’ll follow in her or Pasha’s footsteps, Rachel admitted: “They do love numbers.” In fact, the Countdown host said her eldest is already choosing maths over a bedtime story.
“You don’t know though what they’re going to do when they get bigger, but you just want to encourage them and, you know, support them with whatever they decide they like.”
Speaking about how they carve out quality time together amid their hectic schedules earlier this year, Pasha shared that they’ve taken up squash as part of their lives.
“We try to do it every week, at least once a week,” the former Strictly professional revealed.
“We’ve been successful so far. She loves playing, I [had] never played [it] until I started doing it with Rachel. But it’s great exercise, it keeps you active, it keeps your heart going.
“And, it’s something you do because you love doing it. But at the same time, you get the benefits of running around and keeping active, and the muscles get engaged. Plus, she gets lots of positivity from it because she always wins.”