EXCLUSIVE: Strictly legend Janette Manrara invites OK! into her beautiful home and talks her new book, family life with her baby daughter and the love she has for her husband
Janette Manrara, Strictly Come Dancing legend and now bona fide author, interrupts our chat in a hushed whisper, gesturing at the floor. “Oh my gosh, would you look at that?” There, at her feet, is her beautiful one-year-old daughter, Lyra, curled into a little ball on the soft carpet, sleeping soundly.
But like a lot of parents, Janette is trying to figure out how to be a working mum with no immediate family nearby. Her nearest and dearest are based in Miami, while Aljaž’s are in Slovenia. And things are about to get very hectic now Aljaž has become the first pro to return to the show, following his initial departure in 2022.
“Oh, I really put the foot on the brake to become a mother,” she explains. “I’m a dancer and my body is my tool. So the decision to have a child was a big one, because it meant putting me out of work for at least a year, maybe two, who knows? So when I became a presenter of It Takes Two, I felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders. OK, now we can start a family and not stress, because now I can work without needing my body physically as much as I used to. But I am a workaholic.
When speaking about 34-year-old Aljaž, who she married in 2017, Janette lights up. In the book, she describes him as “not just the love of my life; he’s my confidant, my partner in crime and my soulmate”. “It absolutely hurts my heart,” she says, sadly. “It breaks my heart, because I know how hard everybody works to make it such a wonderful show. So when you see the headlines and the things that have come out, it does hurt. The whole team is like an extended family to us. I know first hand how hard every single one of them works to make that show. It’s honestly such a beautiful place to work. The people make it.
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