Sian Welby Opens Up on Working Mom Pressures

Sian Welby has detailed the pressure of being a female breadwinner as she praised her fiancé Jake Beckett for always giving his 'support'.

The Capital Breakfast and This Morning presenter, 39, gave birth to her daughter Ruby in June 2024, whom she shares with producer Jake. 

She returned to work just three months after giving birth to her first child, thanking her fiancé for enabling her to cut her maternity leave short.

In a new interview with the Daily Mail, Sian insisted her and Jake play equal roles in their household.

'I think you can't do any of this without a supportive partner, or if you don't have a partner, you need a family member that helps you because it really isn't a one person job raising a baby', she said.

'You need that teamwork. My other half is a producer so he understands the industry and he gets that work is ad hoc - it can go as quick as it came.

'He's very supportive and we do tag team it together. Some days I'm pulling in a full shift because he's on a shoot and then other days he's doing it and I'd never feel like somebody's like not pulling their weight.

'I would say it's pretty equal in what we both do. He does mornings, I do pickups. When he's doing dinner, I'm doing bath time. All that kind of thing.'

Sian added: 'I suppose it's hard. The world kind of isn't set up for it and yet I would argue that almost everyone's in the same boat. 

'There's not many couples I know where they're not both working and that sometimes out of pure necessity, that there's no way they could live without two incomes. 

'So I do think we're in a bit of a mess with it all in terms of I think a lot of people are struggling, even people that are going out and working with two incomes.

'Me and Jake have always been really open and honest about it. There might be times where you earn more, there might be times where they earn more. 

'The amount of couples where, you know, somebody suddenly has been out of work and then they become the breadwinner. I'm very aware that those things can change, that is the modern world. 

'My other half doesn't have any sort of problem with that or anything. He's got no chip on his shoulder about who earns what. We just crack on with it and I think you do have to look at it like that.

'We've moved on and everyone's back at work and everyone's having to work and actually you feel like a good role model because Ruby is going to have to go to work, see the reality of what we have to all do.'

Sian also opened up about the guilt she feels over being unable to see her dementia-stricken father as much as she would like after the devastating 'wake-up call' over his diagnosis.

She publicly revealed two years ago on that her father, Ian, had been diagnosed with vascular dementia.

With a thriving career based in London and parenting her daughter Ruby, Sian expressed her upset about not being able to spend enough time with her 86-year-old dad.

Ian lives with Sian's mother, Helen, in a Nottinghamshire village and was diagnosed with dementia around five years ago. 

While he still has good and bad days, Sian candidly shared how difficult she finds living so far away from her family.

She shared: 'I'm a very emotional person and very empathetic. I'm a people pleaser in a lot of ways. I'd rather be making someone else happy and inconvenience my own day.

'So it does break my heart a bit because I can't just pop over, and because they live so far away.'

On Monday, Sian visited The Spitz Charitable Trust care home sessions to witness firsthand the impact music can have on people living with dementia.

The London-based organisation uses live music to improve the well-being of people with dementia in care homes.

Speaking about the experience, Sian said: 'I found the whole day actually quite emotional. It really was.

'I think whenever I do something like this, I always think I should do it more because it just reminds you of - I don't know - you can get so wrapped up in your own world of rushing about and almost rushing through life, and then you're in a place where people are coming to the end of their journey.

'It makes you a bit heartbroken because it does seem quite lonely for a lot of people and quite dull and quite slow.

'But because I was there with the Spitz Music Charity and Music for Dementia, I was there on a good day, you know.

'I was there when they were doing activities and singing along and requesting songs.

'And you can see, like I was saying, I could see in real time it changing someone's day, like changing their mood, literally waking them up. It was quite powerful really.'

Sian is supporting Music for Dementia, a campaign run by The Utley Foundation. Visit musicfordementia.org.uk