Stacey Solomon says being teen mum on benefits changed entire outlook on life

13 February 2024 , 07:41

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Stacey Solomon on the 'luck' she's had in her career and how she's learned to be organised (Image: BBC/Optomen Television/Neil Kent)

Stacey Solomon, who first captured our hearts as a 19-year-old singing 'What A Wonderful World' on The X Factor, has shared the lessons she learned as a young mum on benefits.

From being a struggling single mum, Stacey has become one of TV's biggest stars over the past 15 years. She's won I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, carved out a successful presenting career, and gained 5.8 million Instagram followers. The star did all this while raising her five kids with husband Joe Swash.

"I'm waiting for someone to be like, 'Oh, it's all over now. It was just a big joke,'" she says about her life. "I laugh with my mum all the time. I've been in scenarios that neither of us could ever imagine. I got to interview Boris Johnson once and my mum just rang me up laughing, going, 'What are you doing with Boris Johnson?' I was like, 'I don't know, Mum!' Every opportunity I get, we can't believe it."

Since her debut on The X Factor, Stacey's career has flourished. But the 34-year-old knows that hard work isn't always enough on its own. "People will say, 'Oh you work hard,'" says Stacey. "But the reality is I got so lucky. I worked really hard and gave it my absolute best, but I still have been lucky to have fallen into those situations where somebody gave me an opportunity. Honestly, I'm just running with it. I'll keep going until it finishes."

Stacey is raising her five children with Joe Swash (INSTAGRAM)

Stacey Solomon came third on The X Factor aged just 19 (Ken McKay / Rex Features)

Stacey's back on our screens with a new series of her popular BBC show Sort Your Life Out. She helps people clear out their clutter and sort out their homes.

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"It's the psychological side of it that helps more than anything," she explains. "There's always a reason behind the clutter. Whether that be emotional attachment or a trauma in their life that has meant they haven't been able to move forward. There's so much psychological behaviour behind why we hold on to stuff. Most of my day is figuring out why and we can have a conversation and work out how best to support them to let go of as much as possible."

She often stays friends with the folks from the show and says they usually don't return to their messy ways. "When they get home they see how they could live in their home and no one ever wants to go back there," Stacey shares.

Stacey shared how her show has helped people change their lives. "There are people who have then ended up losing loads of weight and getting really healthy and there was a single mum who got her home together and ended up meeting somebody because she finally felt comfortable taking them back to her home," she said. "There are so many success stories and it's not necessarily how clean they have kept their house, it's how their lifestyle changes and everything around it."

Stacey was a single mum determined to finish her A-levels when Zach was born (WireImage)

Stacey Solomon on lesson she learnt as teen mum on benefits - 'I felt like I couldnt cope' (Brian Cassey/REX/Shutterstock)

She also revealed that becoming a mum at 18 taught her to be organised. "When I had Zachary, I went from a carefree, I'm-never-gonna-die-life-is-fantastic teenager to, 'I've got a child who depends on me.'" Stacey was determined to finish her A levels after having Zachary. She juggled college, benefits collection, and eventually a job to pay for her education. "I had a baby who was in the nursery at college and then I had to get a job afterwards to pay for college," she explained.

"I tried to hang on to my social life and I just couldn't do it. I realised immediately that if I wasn't meticulously organised, I couldn't get my milk vouchers. I had to pick up my giro at a certain time every week, I had to get the baby into nursery and out of nursery at a certain time there was so much for me to remember and think about. If I didn't get my a**e in gear, I wouldn't have survived. I wouldn't have passed my A levels and I wouldn't have kept my baby alive. It shocked me into it. Every time I slipped back from that organised self, I would just feel I couldn't cope with life." she confessed.

Stacey empathises with those who reveal their messy houses on TV. "It's really easy to be judgey and it's easy to be mean about people and call them lazy but that's just not the case," she says. "I have rooms in my house that look like Miss Havisham's. Sometimes I can keep up with it all and sometimes I can't. Sometimes you need a little bit of help. All I want to do is to be kind because I really think it could easily be me."

The team turns around each house in just a week and it's hard work, but Stacey loves it. She admits she's much happier in this role than making music. As long as her TV career continues, she has no plans to release any music even though she enjoys singing.

"I love singing but I don't love it as a job," she says. "Does that sound weird? I enjoy it but I find it so nerve-racking to do it for a job. I much prefer being in the presenting role. I love meeting and talking to people."

Zara Woodcock