She’s on official wedding countdown ahead of her big day in July, when Stacey Solomon will finally wed her long-time boyfriend, Joe Swash, following a year-long postponement amid the pandemic.
As well as busily preparing for her upcoming nuptials just five months after giving birth to her first daughter, Rose, the mum of four last week revealed she’s also returned to work after being announced as the newest host of BBC’s Bake Off: The Professionals – the hit show’s popular spin-off programme.
Expressing her excitement over landing the coveted gig – replacing former host, comedian Tom Allen – Stacey told her five million Instagram followers, “I’m finally allowed to tell you the reason I’ve been away filming is because I’m presenting Bake Off: The Professionals this year.
“I honestly couldn’t believe they even asked me,” she added, hinting that her 12-year struggle with imposter syndrome – where she regularly questions her success and how deserving she is of it – had reared its ugly head.
Check out: Stacey Solomon’s top 10 budget tips to transform your home
Stacey Solomonu2019s top 10 budget tips to transform your home - slider
1 of 10Create a crisp 'closet'
Make messy kitchen cupboards a thing of the past, with Stacey's ingenious tip. She fixes a small curtain pole – called a tension rod – inside her cupboard, then attaches hooks with crocodile clips. They can then be used to hang packets, from crisps, to pasta sauces and rice sachets. She has named this handy hack her "closet for sauces".
2 of 10Embrace wonky shelving
Fed up with food going out of date? To keep closer tabs on jars and tins, Stacey installs shelving to tilt forward so she can see what's at the back. It's important to use her trusty tension rods at the front, attaching them securely to avoid smashing any tins or jars. She's also a fan of lazy Susans – rotating turntables which maximise space and make it easy to find tins. Get them at IKEA, Amazon and John Lewis.
3 of 10Give spaces a playful touch
While Stacey's style is chic and stylish, she isn't afraid to be playful. While recently renovating one of the family bathrooms, the doting mum repurposed a collection of plastic dinosaurs in order to give two-year-old son Rex his dream bath time. In an adorable image on Instagram, she showed how she had used a giant dinosaur claw as a soap dish, stuck dinosaur footprints to the bath steps and secured dinosaur feet to the wall. No more soap dodging from now on…
4 of 10Label your food
In a bid to make midweek meals easier, the busy mum-of-four prepares the week's veggies on a Sunday. Stacey chops the food, then pops it into pretty glass containers, which are labelled with the days of the week for ease. Always use clear containers, so you can see what you have – you'll find options that can be personalised on Etsy.
5 of 10Roll and pack
Packing for a family of six can be chaotic, but Stacey keeps things organised by using a drawer divider inside her suitcase. The dividers, which have six compartments, keep everyone's clothes separate. Stacey also rolls clothes, which ensures they fit and that items are easy to find. No more throwing everything on the floor when you're trying to find your pyjamas!
6 of 10‘Sort and systemise’
In her BBC show, Sort Your Life Out, Stacey helps people declutter by emptying the entire contents of their home into a warehouse. She then separates items into keep, donate or throw away piles. Afterwards, the "keepers" are returned to the home and stored in an organised way. Do this at home by taking one room at a time, and laying out items on the floor.
7 of 10Make a memory box
Every mum knows that kids' memorabilia can be a huge cause of clutter. Instead of letting it take over, Stacey suggests creating a memory box for each child. Make it large enough to store their precious things, but small enough to store on top of a wardrobe or under a bed.
8 of 10Upcycle homeware
Breathing new life into old homeware or charity shop finds doesn't always mean being a master at upcycling. Stacey's favourite product is Rust-Oleum spray paint (£9.48). Transforming anything from benches to vases, Stacey takes the items outside – first spraying them with the smooth version of the spray before adding texture with the brand's "pebble" effect spray.
9 of 10Make your bed hotel-worthy
Instead of ironing her linen, Stacey uses a clothes hanger to get a freshly laundered look. Admitting she used to break her nails trying to tuck in her duvet, she now uses the hanger to "shove it" down the side of her mattress. She says, "I love not being able to get into my bed at night. I like peeling up a corner and it almost hugging me to sleep. If you want to feel like you're in a hotel, add some faux flowers [on top]."
10 of 10Use magnetic strips for utensils
Organising your house needn't be expensive, and Stacey regularly shops at high street stores like Primark, IKEA and The Range. One of her top money-saving tips is to use basic magnetic strips with a sticky backing to keep kitchen utensils – like pizza cutters and can openers – easily accessible. Just make sure you use a safety latch if the cupboard is on a lower level.
But despite her thriving career and happy family life, insiders say that, behind closed doors, Stacey is feeling the pressure of her new role on top of planning her upcoming nuptials, which are set to take place at her and 40-year-old Joe’s £1.2m Essex home, Pickle Cottage.
A source says, “While Stacey knows she has everything to celebrate right now, it doesn’t take away how much stress she’s under as she juggles having a newborn and three other children, along with a huge new job and a wedding just four months away.
“Landing her dream job on Bake Off was a huge personal achievement. She’s on cloud nine, but she didn’t intend to return to work so soon after having Rose. She feels overwhelming pressure to fulfill this big role plus ensuring their wedding day is perfect.
“She’s taken on a lot in a short space of time and on the surface, it seems like Stacey has the dream life, but the magnitude of it all also feels quite overwhelming.”
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Since winning fans’ hearts as the bubbly Dagenham-born single mum on The X Factor in 2009, Stacey has solidified her role as the nation’s sweetheart, appearing in a host of hit reality shows and carving out a successful presenting career. She’s gathered millions of followers on social media thanks to her role as a celeb mum influencer and organising guru, bagging a string of mega-bucks endorsement deals, and releasing three best-selling books.
She has also been praised for her candid honesty over her long-term mental health battle, confessing to an “out of control fear of death”, crippling anxiety, and her struggle with postnatal depression after having her three sons, Zach, 13, Leighton, eight – both from previous relationships – and two-year-old Rex, who she shares with Joe.
Stacey – who bravely revealed she had suffered a miscarriage in her struggle to conceive a fourth child – has taken regular breaks from social media in a bid to combat her crippling anxiety, as well as seeking professional treatment for her mental health, including counselling and cognitive behavioural therapy.
After she admitted to feeling “drained” following the birth of daughter Rose in October 2021, sources told Closer how Joe had urged her to take some time off work and focus on her wellbeing, which she agreed to do.
Opening up about her “secret” battle with imposter syndrome last year, she confessed, “When you’ve grown up with limited resources, there’s almost a narrative that everything’s unlikely and the odds are against you.
“I guess then, if things start to happen, you immediately think, ‘Do I even deserve this?’ I really work hard to teach the boys that nothing is certain.”
And while the bubbly star is known for her energetic personality and optimistic outlook, she admitted she’s made a concerted effort to stay positive.
Previously opening up about her inner battle, she said, “People say to me, ‘How could you have the energy to be so happy?’ And I actually find that when I’m sad and struggling, I find that more exhausting.
“So it’s almost reprogramming your brain for that [being positive] to be the easy neutral, which can take a long time.”
Last week, Stacey told fans “I can’t wait to get married” after sharing a wedding display during a trip to Ikea on her Instagram stories.
And as her popular decluttering show Sort Your Life Out was confirmed for a second series, insiders say the star has been actively taking steps to better manage her time, as well as delegating tasks to take the load off her plate.
The source adds, “Stacey knows she can only do so much and that trying to do everything herself is only going to make her anxiety worse.
“She’s hired a wedding planner to help take the stress out of doing it all herself and Joe has been a huge support at home – doing the school runs, homework and generally being her anchor in whatever way he can. They’ve also discussed getting more help at home, which Stacey knows she needs as work gets busier.
“Stacey is determined to ensure that her anxiety doesn’t get the better of her during what should be such a happy time. As well as taking all the regular steps she’s done in the past, she hopes that by implementing new ways to ease the pressure, she can ensure her happily ever after and her dream career aren’t tarnished by deep-rooted battles from her past.”
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‘She may be scared to lose her perfect life’
Imposter syndrome can affect even the seemingly most confident, successful people. It’s estimated that 70 per cent of women will battle it at some point, and celebs who’ve spoken out about their own struggles include Emma Willis, Ellie Goulding and lifestyle blogger Zoe Sugg.
“Imposter syndrome is essentially the feeling that we aren’t good enough, that it could all go wrong and we’ll be ‘found out’ to be undeserving of our success,” explains life coach Nichola Henderson (coachingbynic.com).
“Most of us have experienced it from time to time, and it usually stems from stress and feeling overwhelmed in our lives. Sometimes, the more successful you are, the more you feel like your peers may ‘see through you’. A sufferer can see themselves as having more to lose.
“Stacey might be feeling anxious and scared that she’ll lose the perfect life she’s worked so hard for. She has a lot on her shoulders, which might leave her feeling on edge, and the strain of taking on so much responsibility might be kicking in. She may feel like the pressure is on her and everything is hanging in the balance – it’s little wonder if this has sparked imposter syndrome.”
To beat imposter syndrome, Nichola suggests asking yourself what you’re afraid of. “Allow yourself to be brutally honest,” she says. “Fear can hold us back, but if you uncover the reason, it often loses its power. Allow your achievements, big and small, to sink in before you take on the next challenge, and tell yourself daily, ‘I deserve to be happy.’ Be your own cheerleader.”