Kate Silverton
‘I try not to have regrets – if there’s something I want to do I pursue it’
Newsreader Kate Silverton has been a mainstay on our TV screens since 2005 and has brought us some of the biggest breaking news stories for more than a decade as an anchor on BBC News At Six and News At Ten.
She’s reported live from war zones, presented shocking Panorama investigations and has also hosted several series including Big Cat Live, My Family At War, Propertywatch and The Speaker.
In 2018 she won legions of new fans when she competed in the 16th series of Strictly Come Dancing, tackling the tango and sizzling in the samba with professional dance partner Aljaž Škorjanec.
And now she’s adding a new string to her bow, having written her first parenting book to help children suffering with their mental health following the pandemic.
“It was born out of concern for our children,” she says when we catch up about her latest project over the phone. “I now want to start making programmes about parenting and mental health.”
Kate, 50, is mum to Clemency, nine, and Wilbur, six, with her husband Mike Heron, who she met when he played an abductor during her war reporting training. The pair struggled to get pregnant naturally, turning to IVF, but in her early forties the presenter was blessed with two children.
Here, she tells us about meeting Mike, being a busy mum-of-two and how she hopes her new book will help other parents struggling at this time...
Tell us a bit more about your new book…
I wrote it to help parents lay the foundations for their children’s good future mental health. I studied psychology at Durham University, focusing on child psychology, and since having children I’ve returned to my academic roots because I wanted to understand how we parent a healthy brain.
What inspired you to write it now?
I wrote the book during lockdown and it was born out of concern for our children. In the midst of the pandemic, parents were telling me that their children were displaying behaviour they’d never seen before, like banging their head against the wall and displaying acts of self-harm and anxiety. I wanted to say, “Look, this is a very challenging time and here’s what we need to know as parents and families.” There isn’t a therapist on every corner, sadly, and services are stretched, but there’s a lot parents can do to help. Fitness coach Joe Wicks has told me the book has changed his life.
Does this book mark the start of a new career direction for you?
I’m not leaving journalism behind but I’d like to focus on making programmes around parenting and mental health. I’m also training to be a child psychotherapist. I’ve been
counselling children on placement at primary schools and I’m starting a master’s degree in child psychotherapy this autumn.
As a working mum with two young children, do you struggle to get the life/work balance right?
I’ve always been good at focusing on “doing” and achieving, but now I’m a mum I’ve had to stop taking on lots of extra commitments that take me away from home. When I present the news on Fridays and Saturdays I miss the children, so that’s something I’m hoping to change. The kids have a nice Saturday tradition with my husband where they watch a film over pizza, but I’d quite like to be doing more of that with them.
How did you meet your husband, Mike?
It took many years of searching to find him – I was 35. Before covering the Iraq War for the BBC, I was sent to do what’s called hostile environment training. This is a six-day course where you’re “taken hostage” and shown what to do if somebody in your team gets shot or blown up. Mike was the one holding me hostage. He joked on our wedding day in 2010 that when he had me gagged and bound it was the first and last day he was ever in charge.
Did you have straightforward pregnancies?
No, I had five years of unsuccessful IVF treatment before ultimately being rewarded with two children who were conceived naturally. It’s too simplistic to say I only conceived when I stopped stressing about it, but there’s an element of truth in it. Until I researched my book, I hadn’t appreciated how much of a role stress plays in our physical health. I was having fertility treatment while out in Afghanistan, and, funnily enough, it didn’t work.
What’s your biggest regret?
I try not to have regrets. If there’s something I want to do I pursue it. I do a lot of mentoring with young women and tell them to write their hopes and dreams down, even if they then put them away in a drawer, because I guarantee they will come to fruition. They look at me aghast, but I wrote down the type of man I wanted to marry, the career I wanted to have when I was 18... It might sound ridiculous, but there’s a lot of
“It took many years of searching to find my husband”
power in bringing forth the unconscious and manifesting it.
How did you keep busy during lockdown?
I wrote my book, saw a nutritionist and bought a rebounder (a small trampoline), losing two stone in the process. When I’m stressed I have a tendency to turn to comfort eating, but during the lockdown I thought, “I can either put on two stone or lose it.” I’ve also taken up cycling and cycled to Amsterdam with other school parents last year. When I turned 50 I decided to mark it by being as healthy and well as I possibly could.