Giovanna Fletcher has said having the Duchess of Cambridge on her podcast was like “just talking to another mum”.
Author, vlogger and broadcaster Fletcher said that because Kate was her “dream guest” she struggled to sleep before recording the special episode of her Happy Mum Happy Baby podcast.
The duchess discussed her feelings of “mummy guilt” and trying “hypnobirthing” on the programme, which was released on Saturday.
'As soon as I remembered I was just talking to another mum, everything else made sense'.@MrsGiFletcher reveals what she learned from speaking to her 'dream guest' the Duchess of Cambridge about their shared experiences of motherhood.Watch ➡️https://t.co/V18sNSMDOs pic.twitter.com/7bLWdwsdAz
— Lorraine (@lorraine) February 20, 2020
Fletcher told ITV’s Lorraine that Kate had been on her guest wish list “from day one”.
She told host Christine Lampard: “The week before, I literally wasn’t sleeping.
“Because she’d been on my wish list for so long, and my dream guest, it’s one thing to actually want someone on, and then to get them and go, ‘Oh my gosh, that comes with so much responsibility’.
“But as soon as I started planning out the episode – and what I do every time is I map it out, write loads of questions and then I don’t look at the paper at all and just enjoy the chat, just kind of get lost in it.
“But as soon as I started remembering that I was just talking to another mum, everything else sort of made sense.”
Fletcher, who has three children with her husband, McFly star Tom Fletcher, added: “That’s what the podcast’s all about. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you have, what you do – there are so many parts of motherhood that we can all relate to, and it’s a complete leveller.
“We were talking about lack of sleep – literally, it just gets you, it takes over.
“To have her on… and it’s a brilliant time for her, the amount of work she’s done in Early Years, and that’s the amazing thing about the podcast… you really understand how passionate she is and how much she cares for the Early Years.
“She’s really wanting to listen to people and what they think.”
Kate, mother to Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, took part in the candid discussion about parenthood in which described herself as a “hands-on mum”.
However, she said she often feels she falls short of expectations about being a mother.
Kate’s interview was recorded at the end of January after she made an early-morning visit to a nursery and pre-school in Stockwell, south London, and she joked about how her two eldest children chastised her over her priorities as a mother.
She said: “And you know, even this morning, coming to the nursery visit here, George and Charlotte were like, ‘Mummy, how could you possibly not be dropping us off at school this morning?’
“But no, it’s a constant challenge, you hear it time and time again from mums. Even mums who aren’t necessarily working, aren’t pulled in the directions of having to juggle work life and family life – there’s always something.”
The duchess also explained how her experience with severe morning sickness led her to hypnobirthing – meditative practice that involves breathing and visualisation techniques – as she came to realise the importance of “mind over the body” after trying everything to overcome the illness.