Was in f loods of tears saying, “I can’t cope”’

Celebs Go Dating’s Anna Williamson on motherhood, surviving lockdown and how COVID-19 has impacted our mental health

Single celebrities have been lining up in their droves to get advice from dating expert Anna Williamson on finding The One. The TV presenter and life coach has been a big hit on the E4 series Celebs Go Dating, which will be returning for a new series with a virtual spin this month.

Anna has also recently been working on a cause very close to her heart.You can see her in action on the panel of The Brain Forum, where she discusses mental health in lockdown and the benefits of mindfulness in helping us all get through this difficult time.

Anna, who turns 39 on Thursday, suffered from postnatal depression with her first child, Enzo, now three years old, and has also been diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and panic disorder. This drove her onto the path of becoming a life coach and Master Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) practitioner.

Now Anna spends her time helping people work through their mental health, alongside her TV projects and looking after Enzo and her seven-month-old daughter Eleanora.

We catch up with Anna, who’s married to Alex Di Pasquale, to talk about how mental health is changing, surviving lockdown with her family and how singles can date during these strange times…

Hey Anna! How’s lockdown been for you?

I think like everybody it’s been the most challenging few months of our lives, but we are alive and we are well! We had ups and downs. Having to work from home and look after the children was daunting.

How did you juggle it all?

All my childcare support went out the window and I was trying to work and my husband was trying to finish a degree all at the same time, so it was far from ideal.

Did you have fun though?

Yes, absolutely! When you come out of something, you look back at it with rose-tinted glasses and go,‘Ah, that wasn’t that bad.’ It was a nice way of being and we’ll probably look back at all the positives, which I think massively outweigh the negatives for us. Don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of weeks where I was in floods of tears on the toilet saying, ‘I can’t cope!’ But on the flip side, we all need to slow down and it’s enabled us to do that.

Are you enjoying having two children?

It has really completed me. I was terrified of having two, but it’s made me feel more like a mother in a weird way. They’re making me even think about trying for a third!

I really feel so much for first-time mums, it must be really hard. With Enzo I had terrible postnatal depression and being at home was my prison, it was literally life and death for me to get out and see people. Eleanora has never seen another baby, whereas at that age Enzo was swimming and doing classes and meeting friends.

Have you had time for yourself?

My friend does a quiz, Ant & Dec and Phillip Schofield have been doing them. I did a couple at the beginning of lockdown. I’m also doing my LuAnna: The Big Night In podcast with Luisa Zissman, which has been great. It’s been a real tonic for us both.

Have you been working out? Motherhood must be so different now from when Enzo was a baby?

I’ve been doing exercise classes online. It’s typical, the minute I want to sort out my baby weight the gyms all close! I’ve been doing a lot more exercise, although the mum tum is not shifting because

I’m matching it with alcohol and cake and snacks!

Have you started any new hobbies during lockdown?

Yes, we moved into this lovely old house which we’re doing up and I’ve been learning about gardening. I’ve been weeding – I quite like it, it’s very satisfying. Who knew sweeping a patio would be so therapeutic!

‘It’s been the most challenging few months of our lives’

You came back to work on the last series of Celebs Go Dating just after the baby was born…

I know, I’m nuts! It’s the best team in telly and I knew I was pregnant when the series was starting and they were brilliant. The baby was due on our Christmas break, when we’d completed the first half of the series. I didn’t do the big finale, where they flew to the Caribbean

– I was gutted about that. But I went back when Eleanora was four-anda-half weeks old. Lockdown has given me the maternity leave I didn’t get then, so it’s win-win. I love that show, it’s amazing.

Do you have any advice for people who are single at the moment?

This is where online dating can have its moment – it’s just as important as face-to-face dating. Look for the right app or website, there’s one out there to cater for everyone and be picky about what you’re doing. It’s an inexpensive way to meet people! The average date costs £127, so use this opportunity.

How was filming for The Brain Forum?

It was really weird, it was basically everyone’s first time out since lockdown was announced. We had to reinvent and change things quickly for the event. It should have been