Janette Manrara, 41, shares ‘sadness’ over ‘mum-shaming’ backlash after making major parenting decision with Aljaz Skorjanec
Janette Manrara has opened up about the guilt she faced following the birth of her and BBC Strictly co-star Aljaž Škorjanec’s daughter, Lyra.
The Strictly: It Takes Two host and former professional dancer on the show has shared candid updates throughout her foray into motherhood, from upbeat memories to tearful dilemmas.
But now, speaking exclusively to GB News and other press, the dancer, 41, recalled the intense scrutiny she faced for opting to return to work six weeks after the birth of her daughter.
The husband and wife were speaking to the People’s Channel while promoting their short film, Dancing Through Change, which delves into their parenthood journey and struggles of balancing their demanding careers.
“I went back to Morning Live when I was six weeks postpartum, and I genuinely couldn’t wait to go back and just be on telly with Gethin [Jones] and everybody and celebrating that Lyra had come into our lives,” Manrara recalled.
“And of course, you know, there’s always the trolls that have their opinions.
“And basically they were just saying that it was too soon, I don’t look like I need to work, I don’t look like I have a life that requires me to work.
“And I normally don’t really care what trolls say. I kind of block them, if I’m honest with you.”
However, the nature of the trolling took its toll on Manrara. “But what it made me think is how sad it was,” she conceded.
“It was 2023 at the time and in society, you still have this mentality that women shouldn’t go back to work, or that he woman stays at home, that the father is the one that goes to work, and that is so not the reality for so many parents out there. With a lot of parents, the father has to go back to work.”
Expressing her passion for what she does, the choreographer revealed: “In my case, it was both a little bit.
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“I needed to go back to work and I wanted to go back to work, because I felt, as a woman, if I didn’t do me, I was never going to be happy enough to be a good mum to Lyra. So that kind of really stemmed and pushed this [film], if I’m honest.
“I thought there were not enough stories out there of women saying how happy they are to work and provide for their children and be good mothers at the same time.
“So yeah, it bothered me, but more than anything, it made me sad that, like, that’s still kind of a conversation.”
The couple explained their parenting agreement as they emphasised how both of them wanted to play an equal role in their daughter’s life.
“Like I said in the film, Aljaž and I, when we found out we were going to have Lyra, really decided we’re going to go co-parent,” the presenter detailed.
She continued: “[We agreed] We’re going to do this together. So there was no, ‘he’s going to go off to work and I’m going to stay’ and, you know, vice versa. We were just going to do this as a team, and every family is different.
“For some families, the mother is the one who stays home. For some families, the father, some are same-sex couples that have children.
“You know, it just really depends on your personal family situation. And that’s why I thought we cannot sit and judge each other, because every single family and every single situation is totally different.”
While she was determined to return to her career and allow her husband to take on the hands-on father role he’d wished for, Manrara still felt pangs of guilt at times.
“I think to this day there’s still a part of me that [worries],” she confessed as she touched on a part of the film which saw her becoming tearful as she addressed her fear about missing out on bonding time with Lyra.
“But I remind myself that I’m providing for her. I’m setting an example for her,” she added. “I’m showing her [she can] follow her dreams and to just do what makes her happy. And I know she’s only little, but I’m going to go back and tell her those stories.
“She’s going to remember anything now, obviously, but the bonding time is still there. And I think she got so much bonding time with her father, and that is special in itself, because a lot of fathers don’t have the opportunity to do that.
“The system has to change, because at the moment women can take up to a year off work, but the fathers can only take two weeks. And so the dynamic, even from the government, is already wrong, because it should be that we can do it as we need for our families.”
Dancing Through Change is available to watch on the couple’s YouTube page, Jannette and Aljaz.