FIONA BRUCE My regrets as a working mum
BBC stalwart Fiona Bruce has spoken of her guilt at being a working mother.
She said she had even asked her children whether it would have been better if she had been at home more often.
In a candid interview with Radio Times, the newsreader spoke of the difficulty of the home-work divide as a busy journalist.
And she admitted she had “fallen short” of the standards of parenting set by her late mother Rosemary.
The 54-year-old, who has two children, said: “Would it have been better for my children had I been at home all the time? I don’t know. I’ve asked them and they say no!”
She added: “My mum, who died in 2011, was the most loving mother you could ask for.
“She was very compassionate, always a good listener, and her love was a constant throughout my life. She was very sympathetic, kind and understanding and I think these values can be underrated.
“So they are qualities that I now value very much and try to show as best I can.”
But she said her mother’s approach to parenting had been radically different to her own.
“We had very different lives. She stopped working when she had her first child [I am the youngest of three] and never went back. I’m not sure she had any desire to.
Pioneers
“My parents’ set-up was very traditional, whereas that’s not the life I’ve chosen to lead.”
And she added: “I have two children [Sam and Mia, now 20 and 16] and I do judge my parenting skills against hers and often find myself falling short.
“She was always there, but I’m not. We [she and advertising agency director husband Nigel Sharrocks] have had the same nanny for 20 years and that has made so much of my working life possible. But I do have a fair dose of workingmother’s guilt.”
Ms Bruce also revealed her admiration for the pioneers of the feminist movement.
“I heard a recording of a speech Emmeline Pankhurst gave when she had just been released from jail, and it was electrifying – it made the hairs rise on the back of my neck,” she said.
“The strength of it, the power and cogency of her argument [for women’s suffrage]; she sounded invincible.
“It was the most extraordinary thing I think I’ve ever heard. These women were often beaten up or pelted with eggs, fruit, even bottles, when making speeches. It was incredibly perilous.
“Then of course the suffragettes embraced violent protest, which was very controversial.”
Ms Bruce added: “She felt that years of gentle protest had got them nowhere and it was the only way to provide a catalyst for change.”
The presenter joined the BBC as a researcher back in 1989.
She later became an assistant producer on Panorama before moving to Breakfast News in 1992 as a reporter.
It was her move to the Six O’Clock News in 1999 that made her a household name.
Her position as a key BBC face was cemented when she later joined Huw Edwards on the Ten O’Clock News.
Ms Bruce is now best known as presenter of long-running BBC shows Antiques Roadshow and Crimewatch.