23 June 2023 , 23:01
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Christine Lampard says life in a blended family is “funny, wonderful and exhausting” – and the perfect antidote to stressful days.
Christine and former footballer Frank are parents to daughter Patricia, four, and son Freddie, two.
And Christine, 44, is also stepmum to Frank’s daughters, Isla, 16, and Luna, 17.
The TV presenter said: “Being part of a blended family is lovely. I don’t remember life before it now.
“When I first met Isla and Luna, they were two and four – now they’re 16 and almost 18, and have just taken their GCSEs and A Levels. They’ll call us and say: ‘We’re coming around tonight.’ They’ll jump on the train and come over.
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Christine Lampard says her positive outlook helps her cope with anxiety (David Venni)“Life is always busy, but we all manage somehow, don’t we? Mine is ‘two children busy’. Freddie has just turned two, so he’s a whirlwind. The two of them are funny and wonderful and exhausting. I think they’ve sapped every bit of energy from me, but it’s worth it.”
Despite looking happy and relaxed on screen, Christine suffers from anxiety.
She said: “I’m not positive all the time. I have flat days like everyone else, but I take the little wins, which is what my mum taught me.
“She also used to say: ‘Your health is your wealth.’ We didn’t go on flashy holidays abroad like my friends did, but I look back on my early childhood as such a happy time because I was brought up feeling grateful for small things. If the little things are good, so much happiness can come from them.”
Christine grew up in Newtonwards, Co Down, Northern Ireland, and traces a lot of her anxiety back to the Troubles.
Christine with husband Frank (Daily Mirror)
Christine on the cover of woman&homeShe said: “My dad was a musician at a time when people were going into restaurants or bars and shooting around them. I couldn’t sleep until I heard Dad’s car on the stones outside.
“I still have that feeling at night sometimes, but now it’s children-led.”
The former One Show presenter will be on our TV screens all summer, filling in for Lorraine Kelly on her ITV show Lorraine. Christine still gets a “buzz” presenting live TV and described her stint on the show as a “holiday camp before the grown-ups come back in September”.
Christine first met former Chelsea and England midfielder Frank, 45, at the Mirror’s Pride of Britain awards in 2009 and she has now become an ambassador for the awards.
She told woman&home magazine: “The night itself is very emotional because we get to celebrate superhuman people. When you turn on the news and there’s nothing but death and destruction, it’s easy to forget there are people who are doing wonderful things.”
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* The full interview is in the August issue of woman &home, out Thursday, June 29. Christine is presenting Lorraine on weekdays from 9am on ITV1 and ITVX.