Lottie Tomlinson has how how it was her maternal instinct that encouraged her to give up her career to care for her siblings after their mother’s death from cancer.
The influencer, 25, who recently announced her second pregnancy, speaks about how she looked after her family her new memoir, Lucky Girl.
Lottie halted her plans to step into a maternal role for her five younger siblings – Félicité, then 16, twins Phoebe and Daisy, 12, and twins Doris and Ernie, who were only two – along with her grandmother and the younger twins’ father Dan.
Her mother Johannah Deakin died from leukaemia seven months aged 43 after she was diagnosed in 2016 when Lottie was just 18 years old.
Johannah and Lottie’s father, who she was estranged from, had split up four years before and her mother’s death prompted her move home to Doncaster.
Lottie Tomlinson has how how it was her maternal instinct that encouraged her to give up her career to care for her siblings after their mother’s death from cancer
Lottie halted her plans to step into a maternal role for her five younger siblings – Félicité, then 16, twins Phoebe and Daisy, 12, and twins Doris and Ernie, who were only two – along with her grandmother and the younger twins’ father Dan (pictured with Phoebe left and Daisy right)
Detailing how she moved back home, Lottie said: ‘I needed to be there for the little ones. It was just an instinct. And we’ve all got that in us because of how my mum brought us up. We’re all very maternal and we all care about each other so much. My work was important to me but nothing’s more important than your family and they needed me.’
In an extract from her new book obtained by the Mirror, Lottie explained how she thought she would go on to live a ‘sad life’ after the tragedy.
She wrote: ‘I thought that my life was never, ever going to be happy again. I thought that I would always live with this pain.’
Lottie recalled sitting on their bathroom floor sobbing after realising her mother Johannah wouldn’t survive her cancer diagnosis after previously holding onto hope that she would be cured.
Sadly for the family, Lottie’s sister Félicité Tomlinson lost her life following an accidental overdose three years later, after taking a fatal concoction of anti-anxiety medication, cocaine and painkillers.
Before the double tragedy, Lottie was working as a make-up artist alongside her friend Lou Teasdale, and by 2015 she was on tour with her brother Louis’ band One Direction.
In her book, Lottie reveals how nobody offered her and her younger siblings any bereavement support to process their grief.
Not until Lou encouraged her to therapy from the Sue Ryder bereavement charity, which she described as a ‘turning point’ in her life.
Sadly for the family, Lottie’s sister Félicité Tomlinson lost her life following an accidental overdose three years later, after taking a fatal concoction of anti-anxiety medication, cocaine and painkillers
Now hoping to help others deal with the loss’ they have suffered she wrote: ‘In my darkest times, I didn’t think I’d be happy again, I was really, really convinced of that. And there’ll be a lot of people in that same place.’
Now, Lottie is engaged to Lewis Burton, who she shares her son Lucky, 23 months, with, and his pregnant with a baby girl.
She shared the news they were expecting a daughter on her Instagram page, as she posted a gender reveal cake with pink icing.
She wrote: ‘The most surreal feeling ever, my baby girl a dream come true’.
Upon announcing her pregnancy news to the world, Lottie penned a social media caption that read: ‘our little family is growing we feel so excited and blessed that another beautiful baby is joining us in Jan 2025.’
Lottie and Lewis got engaged in November 2023 when he whisked her off her feet to Paris – after three years of dating.
She oozed glamour as she styled her blonde locks in a chic up-do and opted for a glamorous palette of makeup and glossy lip
Taking to Instagram on Sunday, she shared a snap of a gender reveal cake with pink icing and wrote: ‘The most surreal feeling ever, my baby girl a dream come true’
Lottie and Lewis are already parents to Lucky, who they had in August 2022
Lottie and Lewis are already parents to Lucky, who they had in August 2022.
Explaining the significance of the name Lucky and why she’s chosen it for the title of her book, she told Christine Lampard on Lorraine that it stems from her mum Johannah.
Lottie said: ‘I think it’s just always been the way that she was able to feel grateful for what she’s got when she was really ill. And I think that’s always stuck with me and it’s such a powerful trait to carry through life.
‘It’s been a massive way that I have been able to cope with a lot of my grief is by trying to change really negative, sad things that have happened into a positive in any way that might be.
‘Even if it’s a small positive, it just helps you kind of cope and get through it.’
She explained she had taken on the maternal role in her family following her mum’s death because she needed to be there for younger siblings Félicité, Phoebe, Daisy, Ernest and Doris, adding that the responsibility at such a young age ‘set the tone’ for the rest of her life.
Lottie said: ‘I think it was such a natural instinct for me and I credit my mum for that because she instilled this really maternal instinct into us all.
‘I think when something like that happens, you go into a survival and instinct mode and straight away I knew that the little ones needed me and I wanted to do whatever I could to make things easier for them.
‘It kind of came naturally, but it was such a life changing experience for me to have that responsibility and I think it really set the tone for everything else that happened in my life.’
