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COME ON, MYLEENE!
Myleene Klass chats babies, blended families, finding romance with Simon Motson — and why she can’t wait to turn 40
THE last time we met Myleene Klass, she was clearly on the verge of something exciting, but was playing her cards very close to her chest.
Back then, she’d come through a very public and traumatic break-up, rebuilt her life and had recently met someone she’d fallen for.
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However, burned by the past, she was understandably too cautious to shout it from the rooftops.
Not so today. Since that interview nearly two years ago, Myleene, 39, has moved in with PR exec Simon Motson and says she’s never felt more ecstatic or in love.
“I just thank my lucky stars,” she says. “I can’t believe I’m here and that everything has aligned.
And the fact that I could have missed out on having such an incredible man in my life would have been the biggest travesty of all.”
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She throws her arms up and laughs at herself for being so schmaltzy.
“Oh what a gushy line! But honestly, it would have been. How awful that I could have gone through my life and not met him. Imagine never getting why people write those crazy love songs or do crazy things.
“I get it now as a grown-up, and it’s a lovely, lovely thing.”
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It sounds like she’s experiencing emotions she’s never felt before, despite having been with ex-husband Graham Quinn for 11 years before they split in 2012.
“Yes,” she agrees. “To feel like this is a whole other level, and it’s quite incredible. I’m just very happy. About time, eh?”
Indeed. As Fabulous celebrates its 10th birthday, there was no one more fitting to have as our cover star for this special issue than Myleene.
Over the last decade she has featured on our cover eight times – today will be her ninth – and we’ve been with her through the highs and the lows that have come with it.
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“We’ve kind of grown up together, haven’t we?” she says as she looks back on her previous covers.
Without checking the dates, she reckons she can pinpoint when each one was shot just by looking at her eyes – the times where she’s flicked a switch to keep up appearances and the times when she’s been genuinely happy.
“You can see it in my eyes. You really can. My god, I’ve massively changed over the last 10 years. And I have to take responsibility for things which have happened in my life, otherwise it just sounds like things happened to me, and I don’t want to be passive.”
The pivotal point came six years ago when her marriage to Graham – the father of her daughters Ava, 10, and Hero, six – broke down, leaving her devastated.
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“I wouldn’t have thought it was possible for one person to have so much thrown at them,” she says when asked how she would have felt 10 years ago if she’d been offered a glimpse into her future.
“A lot of it has been very public, but there’s also been a lot which has gone on behind the scenes as well. It’s been constant.
“But I’m still standing. I’m not looking for the perfect life. I just want a happy one, and I think that’s what you can create yourself.
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“Sometimes you don’t know what’s good for you. What I’d chosen for myself in my 20s – certain people, situations, decisions – there’s no chance it was right for me then and especially not in my late 30s.
“I think I made a lot of impulsive decisions, and when I reached certain points in my life… you’re expected to do certain things. But I won’t do anything that’s expected of me now. I’ll do what I think is right for my family and for my children, and if people don’t like it, I’ve stopped caring. And that’s been the biggest change – I genuinely don’t care what other people think.”
Her seismic transformation coincided with meeting Simon (she calls him Sim), 44, on a blind date back in 2015. He came into her life at exactly the right time – the attraction and chemistry were instant, and the parallels between them struck a real chord.
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“It was a girlfriend who rang me up and said: ‘There’s this guy, he’s been through a similar situation to you, and he’s my friend.’ And I was like: ‘OK, that’s good already,’” she says.
“He’d been single for three years, I’d been single for three years. We have the same-aged children and were both ready to commit. Nobody rushed into anything. We met at a time in our lives where we both knew what we wanted, and we certainly knew what we didn’t want.
“And yes, it was instant. You think that only happens when you’re teenagers, but it was genuine and not some knee-jerk reaction. We met really early in the day and we were the last to leave the restaurant, just talking the whole time.”
They waited a year before meeting each other’s children – Simon has a son and daughter from his marriage – and Myleene says she felt a “massive responsibility” to everyone involved “that I am who I say I am and do what I say I’ll do”.
“He has the same morals as I do, the same values, and that was very important to me,” she admits.
“We are a blended family now – we call ourselves the Klotsons! Ava and Hero adore his kids and I’m just so overwhelmed by it all, to be honest.”
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She shows some videos on her phone of the whole clan enjoying a recent New Year holiday in
the Seychelles. They all look very happy in each other’s company. Could marriage be on the cards?
“I’ve found myself in positions where I’ve said ‘never’ to this and that’s because you’re shooting from the hip when emotions are raw. But when you’ve got time on your side, and you can make those choices because that’s what they are, rather than obligations… never say never.
“He’s not someone I would have chosen for myself and that’s the reason I trust it. Because I didn’t trust my own decisions at one point. I didn’t trust anything. I didn’t know anything any more. When you go through an experience that rocks your world, you end up doubting so many other parts of your life.
![When it comes to her current relationship, opposites attract: '[Simon's] not someone I would have chosen for myself and that’s the reason I trust it.'](http://www.mcb777.site/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/shot01_128.jpg?strip=all&w=705)
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“He’s a very smart guy. We laugh a lot. He’s a very patient man and kind – exceptionally kind. And I just really enjoy being with him.”
But aside from Sim, there’s another new man in Myleene’s life, and he’s causing a bit of a stir among her female friends. Say hello to Louis Rennocks: personal trainer, all-round hunk and the not-so-secret ingredient to Myleene’s latest project.
Today sees her launch MyBody By Myleene – a 12-week bite-sized fitness programme aimed at mums who struggle to find time to exercise. Myleene says she’s had several offers to release a fitness DVD over the years (“ever since I took a shower in the jungle”), but it’s never felt like the right time.
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“Whereas now I’m at a stage in my life where I need to be fitter than ever. In your 30s and 40s, your body is a different machine. I love where I am, but you need to keep things oiled.”
On meeting him last year, Myleene found an instant connection with Louis, who appears alongside her on the workouts – Myleene’s 224,000 Instagram followers will already be familiar with their kick-ass sessions.
“I didn’t just want some beefcake who would come in and shout at all us knackered mums,” she explains. “What clicked with Louis was his mum was also a single mum, and he really understood what I was trying to achieve with other women. He wasn’t intimidating, especially not to my girlfriends who seem to like showing up to do our sessions!”
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We can’t think why…
“He’s been training with my children, my girlfriends – who range from their 20s to 40s – with Sim, who’s 44… and he doesn’t make anyone feel bad, he just gives them the exercises they need.
“Most of all, I wanted [this plan] to be about strength and for women to walk into any room and feel confident and strong in their minds and body. And have a J.Lo butt!”
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Myleene says she leads by example and refuses to use the word “diet” around her daughters. She’s already seeing first-hand the pressures young girls are under when it comes to body image.
“I’m raising two girls, and I hear the stories among their peer groups and the misinformation they can bring in. You can see how it starts, and they’re so young. Ultimately my job is to surround them with positive role models. Both of them are obsessed with Wonder Woman, and I very much encourage that.”
That feels more pertinent than ever in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the women’s movement that has formed and grown from the fallout.
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In past interviews, Myleene alluded to her own encounter with Weinstein in 2010 when he propositioned her with a “sex contract” during lunch in Cannes, asking her to sleep with him and sign a confidentiality agreement. She never publicly identified him, but said if his name ever came out it would “bring down Hollywood”.
“And it has done,” she says, simply. “But that’s not something you want to be right about, really.
I think the solidarity in numbers was always what it was going to take. Everything that has come
from all of this is going to mean a better world for all of our daughters. And we might even have Oprah as president!
“There’s no going back now. Millennials certainly will not accept that kind of treatment because they’ve been shown this is unacceptable.”
Was she shocked at the scale of Weinstein’s abuse?
“I think everyone was shocked. But it’s happening every single day, and I don’t want people to forget that. The spotlight can be shone in one direction and leave shadows everywhere else.
“So let’s take it to the people who suffer that abuse every day in their relationships – at home, in
their workplace, within their own families, from their so-called friends. That kind of abuse is rife, and to those who turn a blind eye and say it’s not like that any more, well, it clearly is.
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“I went to Tanzania recently with Save The Children and I was talking to rescued child brides. To sit in an orphanage where there were 70 rescued child brides, and they were only the rescued ones… it’s everywhere. As women and as humans we have a responsibility to everyone to continue this movement, identifying it and showing there is no shame. The only shame is theirs.
“The whole thing is such an ugly subject, and not something we should have to be discussing in the 21st century. But there it is.”
Myleene says it’s vital that men get on board with calling out abuse.
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“Women need allies. We need men to say: ‘Hang on, this is unacceptable. This isn’t funny.’ I’ve said to my own children that the line is crossed when you stop feeling completely comfortable. It’s very clear. It’s as simple as that.”
As she poses with our Fabulous birthday props, looking every inch the cover star (Myleene is always a total charm to shoot, 100 miles an hour and up for anything), thoughts turn to her own milestone celebration, which isn’t so far away.
You wouldn’t know it to look at her, but in April Myleene will be 40 – and she has no trepidation about waving goodbye to her 30s.
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“If I hadn’t achieved what I’d wanted to professionally or personally then I might be more reluctant, but I’m so content with where I am,” she says. “I’ve got nothing to prove, so I’m really looking forward to it.
“I don’t know why people get so frightened of age. Lots of people never made it this far.
“I don’t know whether to go big with a party or just take everyone away, but I know I need to lock it down soon. There are a lot of people I want to say thank you to. My lot are superheroes, all of them. They’ve walked through fire with me.”
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She pauses and then adds: “I learned who my friends were some time ago and I had a cull. It’s made my Christmas card list very cheap.”
It certainly seems like everything has finally fallen into place. And it rather begs the question of whether she and Sim would ever consider adding to their blended brood of Klotsons?
“Again, I’ve learned never to say never. There are six of us and it’s already crazy enough trying to find everyone’s coats and wellies and getting everyone out the house. It’s mayhem, but twice as much fun.
“And, you know, another one? I could cope with anything. Genuinely. There’s nothing I’m scared of any more, and that’s the scary thing!”
– MyBody By Myleene – a 12-week programme that comes with a DVD, fitness guide and sandbell– is out now at .
MOST READ IN FABULOUS
Cover girl
Myleene says: “I like this one the best because it’s so badass. I’ve got it hanging up in my bathroom!”
Introducing Fabulous Females
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This year is the 100th anniversary of women obtaining the right to vote – a right that was hard won on the back of immense sacrifice by countless brave suffragettes.
So what better year to launch our new Fabulous Females campaign? Every week in the magazine, we will be interviewing a woman we believe is truly fabulous.
Today it’s the magnificent Myleene, who has conquered career woes and divorce to emerge stronger – not just for herself but for her two girls.
And from Monday, February 4 in The Sun’s Fabulous Daily, you can vote for your very own Fabulous Female – it could be your mum, friend, sister, neighbour, colleague... any woman who has inspired you. Just let us know what makes them so brilliant, and they could be celebrated in Fabulous Daily.
Let’s hear it for kick-ass females everywhere!
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