Stacey Solomon
The sunny XFactor finalist has become a compassionate, confident campaigner for body image, single mums and more
Full Of Surprises
Stacey Solomon’s star has carried on rising in the decade since she burst on to our screens as a giggling XFactor contestant.
Back then, the teenage mum wowed Simon Cowell with her soulful singing voice, and charmed the nation with her goofy sense of humour and selfdeprecating asides.
Stacey may have finished third on TheXFactor 2009, but she was already a winner – appearing on the singing competition launched a TV career that has kept her in the public eye ever since.
The next year she won I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here, cementing her status as the nation’s sweetheart. She has an enduring girl-nextdoor appeal, connecting with viewers and her three million Instagram followers by being endearingly open about her struggles with parenthood and anxiety.
Stacey’s sunny personality acts as a tonic in these gloomy times, and she’s brightened up shows like I’m ACelebrity’s spin-off show ExtraCamp,LoveIslandExtra Sun,TheCrystalMaze,The Jump and CelebrityJuice.
She says her upbeat disposition comes naturally.
“My sister used to call me Shallow Hal because I just walked around life thinking I was amazing,” she confesses. “I had a really rose-tinted outlook. I think
I’ve still got it.”
And yet Stacey also possesses grit – she was always determined to defy the stereotype of an Essex girl. At school she harboured big plans to go to university and either teach or get work in the performing arts.
“You sometimes feel like people have made up their minds about your life and what you’re going to be,” she muses. “I think I never wanted to stand by that. I wanted to challenge it.”
After a brief singing career, TV turned out to be her medium. Stacey found her stride on LooseWomen in 2016, the show providing a platform to show off her natural intelligence. Stacey holds her own on a panel of older, more experienced presenters, regularly delivering spot-on comments on current affairs and providing a compassionate take on the topics of the day.
The panel show has given Stacey more confidence and a louder voice – these days she is happy to call out those who criticise her on social media for her looks, intelligence or parenting.
Two years ago, she earned plaudits for shining a light on a gossip magazine for its “bullying manner” in printing an unkind story about her. In 2018, she slammed the dangerous message celebrity magazines were sending out by airbrushing women’s bodies. To emphasise the point she posed in
un-airbrushed bikini shots to show her body, warts and all.
Last year, to a Twitter troll who said Stacey wasn’t intelligent enough to go to university, she replied that she had the equivalent of three A Levels, adding, “I’m an intelligent, capable human. Your opinion demonstrates a lack of education and ability to see past stereotypical traits in a human that society deems unintelligent.”
Some of her resilience may derive from the challenge she faced when falling pregnant as a teenager with son Zachary, now 12, an event she says derailed her plans for university. Five years later, she had son Leighton, now seven, with a former fiancé.
Again, Stacey stands up to those who would bring her down and, as sole provider to her elder sons, bangs the drum for single mums.
“I’ve been a mum since I was 17. I’m so proud of all the things I’ve achieved and the people my boys are becoming. I’m so proud to have that title of single parent.”
Five years ago, she found happiness with Joe Swash, familiar to many as a TV presenter and recent winner of DancingOnIce. Their son, Rex, was born last May.
It’s the latest chapter in a life story that has taken some unexpected turns, but that’s typical of Stacey. From the start she’s defied expectations about what teen mums, Essex girls and XFactor runners-up are capable of. And to think she’s still only 30 – it’s safe to say that Stacey Solomon has not finished surprising us yet.