Stacey Dooley said she no longer signs up for shows that could put her safety at risk, as she’s “desperate to stay alive” for her daughter. The documentary maker has a two-year-old daughter named Minnie with Kevin Clifton, who she won Strictly Come Dancing with in 2018.
Ahead of becoming a mother, Stacey travelled around the world to front various gripping documentaries from sex trafficking in Cambodia, to Yazidi women fighting back in Syria. While still focused on investigating such difficult subjects, she admits scaling back on filming in “hostile environments”.
“I think [having a baby has] definitely changed the type of gigs I’m saying yes to,” she shared on the Parenting Hell podcast. “I was doing a lot abroad and, often, it was in really sort of hostile environments and I loved it, I truly loved it.
”But, I did that through all of my 20s and at the start of my 30s, and now it’s just very different priorities and if it doesn’t work for Minnie, then I can’t do it.” Quizzed on whether she thought about her safety more as a mother, she added: “Yeah, I could do with not [dying]. I could do with being around.”
Laughing, she continued: “I have to be around a lot more. Actually, I’ve turned into a bit of a hypochondriac since having the baby, because I’m so desperate to stay alive for as long as possible, yeah it’s wild.” Stacey says she is now more focused on “domestic stories” and described her working schedule as “a nice mix”.
In the same podcast episode, the presenter admitted that she wasn’t “deeply maternal” ahead of becoming a mum aged 36, but is so glad she made the decision. “I’m so thrilled, like, thank God, I just did it,” she added.
Stacey tends to keep her family life out of the public eye but, on occasions, shares updates of Minnie with her fans. Back in January, she paid a sweet tribute to her daughter to mark her 2nd birthday.
Taking to her Instagram, she shared a picture of the pair playing in the snow, alongside the caption: “The star of the show is 2 today! My heart could BURST my little hilarious stunnah. Love you FOREVAAAAAAAAAAAA X.”(sic)