Being a dad has flipped my life upside down
Ashley Banjo
CRADLING his newborn son close to his chest, Ashley Banjo couldn’t look more content.
Celebrating his first Father’s Day with three month-old Micah, he admits having kids has “flipped his life upside down”.
The Dancing on Ice judge, who also has 16-month-old Rose with wife Francesca, says: “Being a dad has made me braver.
“I look at my kids and realise me and their mum are their world. That feeling is like nothing else I’ve ever experienced.
“Your kids turn you into a superhero, because you would do whatever you needed to for them.
“Watching them grow is fascinating to me – seeing them smile, laugh or use words.
“The first time my little girl grabbed my hand and asked me to walk with her, it just blew my mind.”
Such strong paternal feelings surprised the career-driven dancer, who found fame when his troupe Diversity won Britain’s Got Talent in 2009.
“I was never one of those people that planned to be such a hands-on dad, but it has flipped my life upside down,” he says.
Cooking
“The first day of having Rose, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t imagine not being hands-on’.
“From the very first minute it was important to me. Now I’m dreading leaving lockdown because I’ve been with them so much. It’s going to break my heart.
“Diversity are hopefully touring next year, and we might have to isolate in a bubble with the people we’re performing with.
“So, in the new normal for us, there will be periods where I don’t see the kids – that’s going to kill me.”
The normally upbeat star recently opened up about his first ever struggle with mental health after Micah was born in lockdown.
“It was crazy,” he says. “My wife Francesca had Micah by C-section so we were in strict isolation and she was recovering.
“We had our daughter Rose and a newborn. Francesca couldn’t move. I was changing the babies, cooking dinner, entertaining the kids.
“At the same time we were seeing our livelihood disappear. The world was changing but I couldn’t react to what was happening because I was looking after my family. There was a good five or six weeks where I was like, ‘Wow, this is tough’.
“I felt this overwhelming sense of negativity that I’ve never felt before. I’m a positive person, I always try to have a positive outlook.
“I was sitting there going, if someone said to me now, ‘Ash, where’s the positives in all of this?’ I would struggle to find any.” He adds: “My family helped me through it. Talking to everyone on Facetime every day, letting them see the kids, helped so much.
“I realised the world is different but we just have to adapt. As long as we all tackle it together, we’re all good.”
Ashley, 31, formed Diversity with his younger brother Jordan, 27, in 2007, when he was 17, and two years later they won Britain’s Got Talent while he was at university studying for a science degree.
As well as ITV’S Dancing on Ice, he has starred in shows like Got to Dance, Flirty Dancing, Dance Dance Dance, and Ashley Banjo’s Secret Street Crew.
He has also landed a deal promoting new eco-friendly plastic-free baby wipe brand Pura.
Ashley met wife Francesca Abbott, a dancer who was part of troupe Out of the Shadows, when he was 16 and they wed in July 2015. They now live in a lovely Essex home but