As part of one of UK reality TV’s biggest families, Jess Wright is used to a busy household. The Wright family – including siblings Jess, 38, Mark, 37, Josh, 34 and Natalya, 23, parents Carol, 64, and Mark, 66, Mark’s wife Michelle Keegan, 36 and cousin Elliot, 44 – have been reality TV royalty since Jess and Mark first appeared on TOWIE in 2010.
And the family is only getting bigger, with Jess and her husband William Lee-Kemp, 38, welcoming their first child Presley in 2022. Jess tells Closer about the challenges of motherhood, her plans for baby number two, and why she loves living so close to Mark and Michelle.
Jess and Will – who got married during the pandemic in 2021 – recently moved into their dream Essex home, which is thankfully a short distance from the rest of her family.
“We’ve got Mark and Michelle five minutes up the road. My mum lives up the road and Josh is five minutes away,” the former reality TV star explains. “It’s crazy, but it’s lovely. I think family is just the best thing in the world, isn’t it? And Presley loves them all.”
Along with her family, Jess has spent the past decade in the public eye. Fans have seen her go through on-screen break-ups with her ex-partner Ricky Rayment in 2014, witnessed arguments with Mark’s ex-fiancée Lauren Goodger and seen the Wright family grieve the loss of their beloved Nanny Pat. Jess and Will even shared their wedding with fans on an ITV special, Jess Wright: The Wedding, in 2021.
“It was nuts,” Jess says of filming her Mallorca wedding, “It was very intense, and I was pregnant but didn’t know. My emotions were all over the place anyway, so it was a crazy time. But when we watch videos back, you just go back to that day – it was amazing.”
More recently, fans have followed her motherhood journey too. “At the beginning, it was so daunting because they're this precious little thing you bring home, but that soon passes and their personality comes out and they just literally become your best little friend.
“Being a mum gives you strength because you have someone else that you want to be the best they can be or do the best for them,” she reveals.
Now the married couple are thinking about baby number two. Jess says, “I don’t see Presley not having a sibling, but I don’t know how it can happen with work and stuff at the minute. But I’m 38 and it’s a bit like now or never! We’ll see.”
The reality star is still finding her feet in terms of how much of her family life she’s willing to share online. “You don’t want to share too much,” she explains, “But I’ve got this whole new following now as mum, of women in my generation. So when I share stories of Presley having reflux or dairy allergies, I’d get so many mums messaging me and I’d write back.”
Having this community online has helped Jess through some of the toughest parts of motherhood, as has her involvement in “If They Could Tell You” – an NHS campaign to help new parents navigate the early stages of parenting.
“I think if someone said to me, ‘You’re going to get through this and it’s going to be okay’, because there’s times when you’re not sure. There are all these things that at the beginning you’re so terrified of, but you will get through it,” Jess insists.
While Jess has always enjoyed connecting with fans – from her reality show days to motherhood – she is not planning a return to TOWIE any time soon.
“I probably wouldn’t go back on TOWIE. I think the show is brilliant and I’m so happy it’s still going, but I wouldn’t go on it now with so much else going on. But I think it’s great that people go on there with their children because people at home can relate to that.”
She is, of course, referring to TOWIE icons Lauren – who is mum to two-year-old Larose – and Amy Childs who left the show in 2011 and returned in 2020 and now has four children – Polly, six, Ritchie, five, and her nine-month-old twins Billy and Millie who she shares with her fiancé Billy Delbosq. Amy was an original cast member alongside the likes of James Argent, Lydia Bright and Sam and Billie Faiers – many of whom Jess is still in touch with.
“I’ve always been in contact with Sam and Billie, and Gemma and Bobby. We don’t see each other enough, because you know what it’s like with your best friends, and you say, ‘let’s get together’ and you still don’t. I always see Pete Wicks out at events and stuff, he’s always been a really good friend,” she adds.
Of course, she sees her brother and co-star Mark all the time too and says, “Mark is always at the end of the phone if I need him.” As for whether she’d like to see her son Presley on a show like TOWIE, Jess is not so sure.
“He’s definitely confident! Who knows, but I don’t think he’ll be on TOWIE. Knowing TOWIE, it will still be going… series 100!”
Start for Life’s If They Could Tell You campaign has launched to support parents to help build secure bonds to help nurture their baby’s future mental health. Search Start for Life for free tips and advice or visit your local Family Hub to find out more.