She’s a mum-of-three with a busy work life, so it’s impressive Vogue Williams even manages to put on a pair of trainers. But the 39-year-old insists her secret to fitness is combining workouts with an active lifestyle running after the kids.
The model and presenter, who shares children Theodore, six, Gigi, four, and Otto, two, with husband Spencer Matthews, launched a fitness app earlier this year – and loves using it for half-hour cardio and strength workouts.
She says, ‘I use the app a lot because I find it easy to follow. But I'd say I have quite an active lifestyle, not so much killing myself in the gym every day. It can be difficult to get a workout in with three kids, so sometimes I get up before them to get a workout done. But it depends on the day – sometimes I go for a run when Otto’s down for a nap. I do prioritise it, so I do always find time.’
And she likes to switch it up, ‘I love running with Spen and I started cycling a lot too because it's so handy.’
Originally from Dublin, the podcaster now lives in West London with Spencer, but won’t be following in his fitness footsteps anytime soon. This summer, the former Made In Chelsea star set a Guinness World Record when he ran 30 marathons in 30 days, all in 50-degree heat. But when we catch up with Vogue, she laughs at the thought of running marathons with him, saying, ‘I can manage his recovery run [around 5k] so I’ll join him on that sometimes, but I don't run like Spencer runs, I'm happy enough doing my 5k. I did a 7k the other day and immediately regretted it.’
Vogue reveals that she doesn’t just prioritise fitness to keep in shape either. She says, ‘Exercise is great if you’re like me and get anxiety. That's why I love doing it so much, so even when I'm not training, I'll just try to have an active day, which normally involves walking the kids to school – I'm always up and about moving around.’
The Irish presenter, who recently launched her new podcast Never Live It Down, where she interviews celebrities, and admits it’s her dream project as she’s a little ‘nosy’, reveals that family time to her is ‘always very important’. However, she managed to sneak away with Spencer, who she calls Spenny, for a romantic Italian trip earlier this month to celebrate her 39th birthday – as they wanted ‘a little bit of time for ourselves’.
And while they may have been feasting on lashings of pasta on their Italian trip, she reveals they’ve both been influenced by Dr Chris van Tulleken’s book, Ultra-Processed People. She says, ‘It’s a really good book and opened our eyes to ultra-processed food. So, wherever I can, I just try to eat something that I've prepared myself, or something that's fresh and unprocessed, it makes a massive difference.’
But you won’t find her eating meals from scratch the whole time. She says, ‘I definitely eat ultra-processed food because I love sweets – but if you can try to avoid it as much as possible, it's the easiest way to stay healthy.’ While her overall motto is to eat healthy 80% of the time, as she ‘really enjoys food.’
Sticking to her motto when it comes to her children’s diets, she reveals that they generally choose healthy foods themselves. She says, ‘My kids actually love houmous and cucumber, strangely enough. They love yogurts too and are really loving new Mixers split pots from The Collective. Yogurt snacks are good for when your child's just starting to go off milk, it's nice to know that they're still getting a big intake of dairy.’
If you are one of Vogue’s 1 million followers on Instagram, you’ll probably think she lives a very glam lifestyle – but she laughs, ‘I’m not sure it’s even true’. Like many of us, she confesses that flat shoes are a priority at a work event. She says, ‘I literally have trainers in my backpack or my handbag, they go straight on and I'm off home. I rarely would go to a work party or something like that, I love going for dinners and drinks with my friends, but I wouldn't say I have the most glamorous life. I just love coming home and chilling out.’
With her 40th coming up next year, Vogue has recently spoken about being unsure about having a fourth child. She said, ‘I had a timer on myself thinking, “I’ll decide at the end of the summer”, and now it’s the end of the summer and I still really just don’t know. Spencer would straight away, but I think of the logistics whereas he doesn’t. I don’t want to have a child when I’m 40, because I feel like I’m going to start getting tired. That’s when I want to go into my granny era!’
But Vogue isn’t scared of turning 40 next year, in fact, she loves a big bash. She says, ‘I was away for my birthday this year and I've never been so spoilt rotten,’ adding with a laugh, ‘By the hotel – not Spencer! I will definitely celebrate my 40th and I'm very excited to turn 40 – I feel really happy.’
Vogue Williams is working with The Collective to launch Mixers – their new kids split-pot yogurts.