She’s married to a pop star, but now it’s time for a little role reversal. Parenting guru Giovanna Fletcher is about to hit the road, leaving her McFly singer hubby Tom to hold the fort with their kids: Buzz, eight, Buddy, six, and four-year-old Max. “I’ve got every confidence in Tom!” she laughs. “He’s a brilliant dad, and he’s very good at cooking.”
Confidence is a recurring theme in Giovanna’s life right now. As well as stepping into the spotlight for theatrical thriller Wish You Were Dead, the podcaster, 38, is taking on a second new role, as a confidence ambassador for IT Cosmetics. It’s a topic that’s close to the heart of the I’m A Celeb 2020 winner, who admits she’s often secretly quaking beneath her warm and approachable exterior.
“I definitely have imposter syndrome. And everything that I do, I feel so nervous just before I do it,” she confesses. “Whether that’s recording a podcast, going on stage, everything! I try to channel it, to feel like it’s a wave of excitement, but at the same time, I feel like I’m just talking to one of my kids and trying to lie and spin the story! I think the actor side of me means I feel like I can step out of ‘Giovanna’ a bit, and fulfil each role, whatever that is.”
The “fake it until you make it” approach has certainly worked wonders for Giovanna so far. She’s a TV presenter, actor, best-selling author and the ultra-relatable host of the Happy Mum, Happy Baby podcast – where a host of huge names, including the Princess of Wales, have opened up about the realities of parenthood.
“Kate was so wonderful to talk to. And I was surprised at how open she was about family life and motherhood,” says Giovanna. “I would love to have her back.”
Would she like to pop on a pair of headphones alongside the Duchess of Sussex, too? “Oh yes, the podcast is open to all,” she says. “Maybe I’d talk to her about her upbringing and how she tackles parenthood because of that.”
One common podcast topic is how parenting changes relationships – something Giovanna is fully familiar with.
“Tom and I have definitely changed from having kids. Love has to change. You’re no longer the main priority in the other person’s life,” she says.
“Because we’ve both got busy schedules it would be so easy for us to be quite forgetful of each other, so for us it’s about making sure that we tune in. We show each other love by making each other laugh. There’s nothing sexier, I’d take the guy that can make you laugh over the guy with 10,000 muscles any day.”
Tom won’t be laughing her into bed to extend their brood, however. “That shop was shut after Max. I remember being in labour with Max, actually, and there was a moment. Not of ‘oh God this is horrible’, because all my births were brilliant – I hypnobirthed and just marvelled that my body was able to do that. But I just had this moment of clarity, of ‘this is the last time I’m gonna do this’. And I was content with that thought.”
Giovanna’s brother, reality TV star Mario Falcone, is about to become a dad for the second time, but no amount of baby snuggles will change her mind. “It’s interesting that other people’s babies don’t make me broody in the slightest,” she says. “It’s only when I look at videos of our own babies I go ‘aww’. But no, I’m ready for the next chapter of parenting and I’m finding it really exciting.”
Tom, 37, and Giovanna shared their first kiss aged 13, when they were classmates at Sylvia Young stage school, but it took another five years and a few on/off teenage dramas to realise they were each other’s soulmate. “We’d grown up, we’d had other partners, and we just seemed to work, in a different way,” she recalls.
Now, after 10 years of marriage, the pair are hoping to have an informal renewal of vows before too long. Giovanna jokes she’ll pledge “to pick up his wet towels without any resentment”. She adds, “It’ll be a silly intimate celebration of love. It won’t be anything flash or over the top.”
“We can definitely say that we don’t know who we would be without each other in our lives,” she adds. “We know each other inside out and I couldn’t imagine being with someone who I felt like I had to put a full face of make-up on for every day, or behave
a certain way for. I think confidence within a couple is being allowed to be yourself, and you don’t have to pretend in any way whatsoever. Tom gives that to me, absolutely.”
Feeling confident from within is something that fits perfectly with Giovanna’s new role for IT Cosmetics as a “Beautiful without IT, beautiful with IT” ambassador. “I’m not someone who focuses a lot on what I’m putting on my face, I don’t have the time,” she says.
“The reason I fell in love with the brand is the fact it’s so quick, easy and light. I want make-up just to give me that little boost, but not to feel like I’m hiding behind it.”
Giovanna’s social media promotes realistic standards in beauty, so this campaign definitely resonates with her. “I think for so long, growing up, we were told that beauty is one thing, and we all have to aspire to one look. But beauty and confidence means something different to everyone and it’s great working with a brand that celebrates that.”
Developing her own healthy self-image mindset has meant unpicking years of negativity. “I look back at some of the things I did growing up, like just eating an apple for lunch,” she sighs. “But that’s what we thought we should do at the time, because we thought that being slim was the goal. It was almost linked to your worth. But actually, I’ve realised the goal is to serve your body in a way that gets you through life. My body has changed so much since I’ve given birth, but I’ve learnt to marvel at it. It’s there so you can enjoy the moments that actually matter.”
Giovanna's IT Cosmetic picks
Your Skin But Better CC+ Nude Glow, £33 here - Giovanna wears shade light
I love the fact that it's lightweight and it just gives me a healthy glow and feels like it's doing nice things to my skin as well. I’m ashamed sometimes with how I put make-up on, it is literally just ‘slap it on and go’. But this is so easy, it makes me feel ready for the day in whatever time I have.
Bye-Bye Under Eye Concealer, £20 here - Giovanna wears shade medium nude
I get really dark circles under my eyes and this is so good at easing them away. It makes me appear like I’ve slept more than I have. We get stuck into box sets, so this covers up the fact that I stayed up watching another episode of Yellowstone.
Giovanna is a brand ambassador for confidence for IT Cosmetics’ Beautiful Without IT, Beautiful With IT campaign. Products are available at cultbeauty.co.uk.
