The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Ulrika Jonsson

SWEDISH-BORN Ulrika Jonsson, 49, started her career as a weather presenter before hosting TV shows such as Gladiators and appearing as a team captain on Shooting Stars. A mother of four, she lives in south oxfordshire with her husband, advertising executive brian Monet.

THE ONLY CONSTANT IN LIFE IS CHANGE

Long ago, I read the phrase: ‘The only constant is change’ and it really resonated with me. It took me back to my childhood in Stockholm.

My parents split up and got back together quite frequently until my mother finally left home when I was eight years old.

I lived with my father and I’d wake up to a revolving door of different girlfriends — or to no one at all because he’d stayed out all night.

In a funny way, this distinct lack of stability and continuity in my childhood equipped me well for life.

My dad never cooked a meal: it would be a sandwich or toast or something from the hot dog stand.

I wished I had brothers and sisters and two parents at home when I got back from school — I even invented an imaginary older brother. But this was the norm, the only life I knew. And it did make me very resilient.

My life was constantly changing, so I learnt not to fear it.

It also gave me a thick skin, which turned out to serve me well in my television career.

I’m an outsider, independent. People used to say that I always had to be with a man — but that’s not strictly accurate. Yes, it was true in terms of wanting the romantic dream, but I didn’t need a man. I have always been financially secure and well used to fending for myself.

My upbringing has influenced the way I’ve brought up my own children — as independent individuals who can stand up for themselves but who also know I’m always there for them.

In my opinion, the greatest thing I can offer them is to talk about the mistakes I’ve made and explain that the changes I’ve experienced in my life, while sometimes frightening at first, have turned out to be forces for good.

I was just thinking the other day that although I had a far from conventional start in life, out of that negative has come a positive — an ability to react calmly to change when it occurs.