Mum in practice
TV TV vet vet Trude Trude Mostue Mostue reveals reveals how how three three children children in in three three years years have have turned turned her her from from a a career career girl girl into into a a woman woman who’s who’s happier, happier, and a
EIGHT years ago, Trude Mostue became the nation’s favourite trainee vet as ten million viewers warmed to her dizzy vulnerability in the ground-breaking TV programme, Vets’ School.
They watched, in horror, her disastrous attempts to inject a kitten in the neck, and their hearts went out to her when she burst into tears on discovering that she had failed her final exams.
But nobody loves a loser better than the British, and so it was that the Norwegian blonde became an overnight star. Having finally passed her exams, she went on to appear in the BBC series Vets In Practice, and various spin- offs such as Vets In The Wild and Vets To The Rescue.
These fly- on-the wall programmes allowed viewers to watch Trude at work and also follow the ups and downs of her love life as she ricocheted from one disastrous relationship to another.
Vets In Practice ended with footage of Trude giving birth to her daughter Freya in the summer of 2002. She then disappeared from our screens as she put her career on hold to concentrate on motherhood.
Trude looks exactly the same, if a little slimmer, than she did eight years ago, despite having had three children, aged three and under, by her partner Howard Thomas: Freya, Erik, two, and sixmonthold Hilde. And at the age of 35, Trude is making her TV comeback in a new animal programme, Britain’s Worst Pet, on the Animal Planet channel.
‘I have been so busy in the maternity ward that I haven’t missed the celebrity and fame that came with Vets’ School,’ says Trude.
‘Having children is a reality check that puts everything into perspective. I’m a very different person to the one who first appeared on TV. I was naive and insecure then, and I’ve grown up a lot.
‘In the early days, I would describe myself as an extremely ambitious, hard- nosed career girl who was not interested in children.
‘Then I had my first child and realised it was why I was put on this Earth. I’d met the man I wanted to be with for the rest of my life and my maternal instincts appeared from nowhere.
‘ Having said that, having three children in three-and-a-half years is a bit extreme. Freya was a bit of a mistake, but we planned Erik. Then Hilde came along, which was another surprise.
‘ We had just bought a new home and I remember saying, as we signed the completion papers: “ The worst thing that could happen now is if I get pregnant again.” Within a week, I was.’
With a Jacobean house in Bath to restore and three lambs, two dogs and a cat to look after — as well as Howard and their three children — Trude has had to put work on the back burner. She hasn’t even managed to find time to get married.
She met Howard, who works as a consultant manager in industry and sport, four years ago when she was training for the Bristol half- marathon. He had been married twice before and has two children by his second wife.
Trude’s love life until then had been disastrous. Four relationships in as many years had gone wrong.
‘I’d just about given up on men when I met Howard,’ she says. ‘The difference with him is that he is a real man. I’d been out with a lot of boys before him, but never a man. He is the rock of my life — totally reliable and a fantastic father.
WE CALL each other husband and wife, even though we aren’t married, and I wear a silver band on my wedding finger. Each time we’ve set a date for the wedding, I have fallen pregnant, so now we want to wait until the youngest is walking before we set another date.
‘ But I don’t think a piece of paper will make me feel any more committed. How can I commit to anyone more than having three children with him?
‘The day that Freya was born, I knew I was chained to Howard for life. But it would be nice to have a ceremony just for us, and I think it is better for the children to know that their parents are married.’
Though Trude hasn’t missed being in the limelight, she took to TV fame like a duck to water and had no regrets about exposing every aspect of her life on Vets’ School.
The middle of three sisters, she was brought up by her engineer father, Leif, and mother Tordis, a secretary, in a tiny village by a lake in Norway. As a middle child, she says, it was difficult to get attention.
‘ I was a timid, shy child. I got bullied at school, and even as a young adult I allowed myself to be bullied,’ she says.
‘I probably had a bit of a victim mentality and didn’t stand up to people when I should have done.
‘I didn’t mind all the fame that came my way after Vets’ School because I was craving attention. It was a big part of my life, but not as important as becoming a vet.
‘I’m glad I did it because I think it changed people’s perceptions of vets. Before me, people thought all vets were middleaged men in white coats and glasses — but now 80 per cent of vets who graduate are female. I like to think I might have played a part in that.’
One aspect of fame which Trude didn’t enjoy was acquiring not one, but two, stalkers. In 2002, John Maynard was jailed for ten years after threatening to harm her.
‘That was terrifying. I spoke to him when he rang the surgery and threatened to mutilate me. It was around the time Jill Dando was killed and it really scared me. I can’t bear to think that one day he will be let out of prison.’
Her other stalker, ostensibly harmless, has been writing to her through her website for years. He believes they are in a relationship and wants to sleep with her.
‘ I know it comes with the territory, but it is disturbing to know there is somebody out there who has an obsession with me,’ she says.
‘I know his name and where he lives, but I can’t do anything because he hasn’t threatened to hurt me. But he’s constantly getting information about me and trying to track me down.
‘ It is worse now that I have children, because my first duty is to protect them. I’m much more careful about not exposing them to the public eye and I’m very conscious about security at our home.’
Trude is hoping that her return to TV will not exacerbate the stalker’s interest in her.
Her new series, Britain’s Worst Pet, started an eight- week run on November 4 and her task is to give medical advice to pet owners whose animals have behavioural problems.
They include a parrot who won’t stop swearing at people in uniform, an over- sexed bulldog and a Border collie that won’t turn right.
TRUDE is also planning to open her own veterinary practice, kennels and a children’s nursery next to her home in Bath next spring. ‘ As a mother, I know what a pull there is for women between going back to work and staying at home to look after your family,’ she says.
‘ I want to have a workplace where staff and clients know that childcare will be provided.
‘Giving up a career to become a mother can cause women to lose their confidence and their sense of identity.
‘ Yet being a housewife and mother is the most unappreciated profession in the world. I have so much respect for those women.
‘Becoming a mother has made me feel stronger as a person. I am proud of the fact I have managed to produce three children in such a short space of time.
‘I’m not saying I’m handling it perfectly, but I think I’ve done a decent job.
‘ And it’s certainly true what they say about weight dropping off when you have a baby.
‘ Chasing around after three children has made me thinner than I’ve ever been, even though I don’t care one bit what I look like. Women must hate me.’
BRITAIN’SWorst Pet is on every Friday at 8pm on Animal Planet, Sky Channel 570.