She’s spent the last year juggling a newborn, settling into her Essex pad after years of renovations and launching her home and clothing collections – all while filming The Family Diaries. And former TOWIE star Billie Faiers admits she couldn’t have got throughout the last year without her “two little helpers”, Nelly, nine, and Arthur, six.
Billie, 32, who is also mum to 10-month-old Margot with husband Greg Shepherd, tells Closer, “They’re both amazing with Margot and still obsessed with her. The novelty hasn’t worn off! They love helping me. If I ask Nelly to run and grab me a nappy, Arthur will stand there and say, ‘But what can I do, then?’ He wants to be involved and doesn’t want to feel left out, so I have to give him a job!”
But the doting mum admits there are tantrums too. “Nelly and Arthur are at that stage where they’re bickering over all sorts. I have to shout, ‘Separate!’ I’ll take one out of the room, while Greg takes the other to calm the situation.”
Although she has her hands full, Billie admits there’s still a chance she could have a fourth baby. “I do feel happy and content with three, but never say never,” she laughs. “I miss and love the newborn baby stage where they need you, and that period doesn’t last forever. Every day when I pick up Margot, I think to myself, ‘Oh, I just love this’ and I don’t want to her get big. She’s crawling already, and it goes by quickly. If you asked Greg, he’d say, ‘Absolutely, no more, especially now we’re outnumbered’. With me working, he has to help out a lot more so it’s quite a juggle for him.”
Despite being together for 13 years and tying the knot in a lavish Maldives ceremony in 2019, Billie says the passion hasn’t faded during their relationship. In fact, Greg – who’s in the background during our interview – interjects and says, “I fancy her… but she doesn’t fancy me!” Billie laughs before adding, “I definitely still fancy Greg! It’s so important to keep up affection. Even if we’re rushing out the door, we’ll aways say ‘bye’ and have a kiss and a cuddle.”
She adds, “Married life is hard – you’re tired, working and juggling a lot, but I think most couples would agree with me that you have to always communicate with each other, whether it’s what we’re having for dinner or if we’re feeling stressed. Greg and I have a good balance where we’ll do things separately with friends, but we go to work events that end up as date nights. We feel bad saying to our parents, ‘Oh can you have them again so we can go to dinner for one night?’ On weekends we’ll get the kids asleep early so we can eat later, have a bottle of wine and a chat, or get into a new series… though I always end up falling asleep!”
Having lived her adult life mostly in the public eye, Billie is often subjected to trolling and recently hit back after being criticised for the number of holidays she’d been on, but she admits she’s become accustomed to dealing with nasty comments. “Naturally, being on TV we find that people do judge us and say this or that. We’ve been filming for such a long time now that we’ve grown a second layer of skin and brush it off. I just delete and block people, I avoid getting into arguments because it’s exactly what they want you to do.”
And though she looks incredible after having Margot, Billie has only recently started to feel comfortable in her skin. She says, “When I went away in the summer, I just didn’t feel myself. I’d not long had a baby so it’s completely natural. I know in myself I just need to tone up more. I started training two weeks ago and I feel better already. Mentally, it makes me feel so motivated. I do weight training and I love reformer Pilates, which is so good for toning. I’ve got no strength in my core whatsoever since having a baby, so I just want to feel stronger!”
With Christmas only eight weeks away, Billie’s excited to start getting preparations underway, though she admits there are other celebrations she’s planning first. The star, who has launched a new interiors collection with Chapter B at Tesco, which she describes as “affordable but looks luxury,” says, “We might go abroad for Christmas and New Year but we’ll have a big pre-Christmas celebration with [sister] Sam and her kids too. The kids will help me decorate the house and I’ll be updating it with pieces from my own range. Margot will turn one in December, so I’d love to have a tea party, and then it’ll be the first anniversary of us moving into our new home, so Greg and I will host a big dinner party. December will be one big celebration!”
Chapter B by Billie Faiers Autumn/Winter 23 collection has arrived in nearly 300 Tesco stores nationwide.