‘Frank’s away more than ever, but we make it work’
Christine Lampard on long-distance love, Jamie Redknapp rapping with Ed Sheeran at her wedding, and why family is the driving force in her life
Christine Lampard is sitting in the driving seat of a 1966 convertible red Mustang worth £100,000 for our shoot with her. It’s a world away from her usual car trips, heading up the M6 with the kids to visit husband Frank.
“He’s away more now than ever,” she says of the Everton manager who lives at their second home in Liverpool. “There are people with partners on the other side of the world, so I don’t dwell on it. We make it work.
“I’ve been doing this drive since Frank went in January and it can be intense. It took me four hours last time, with the two kids and the dog! But when we get there, it’s brilliant. The distance means Frank and I are still excited to see each other.”
This week, the 43-year-old returns to stand in for Lorraine
Kelly on ITV’S Lorraine for the summer, disrupting her work-life balance even further. Luckily, their London home is just a short drive from the studios, so she can leave at 6am and be back with her children Patricia, three, and 16-month-old Freddie by 11am.
“I’m blessed to live close to the studios,” says Christine. “We’ve often thought about moving out of London, but on my drive in at 6am I think, ‘No way!’
“We have a babysitter, but I’m home by 11am and that’s me done for the day. I couldn’t do 12-hour days like I used to.”
When she was introduced to
Frank by Piers Morgan at the Pride Of Britain Awards in 2009, she was TV’S hottest star as host of The One Show, while he was at the height of his playing career. Soon after they married in 2015, though, she stepped away from our screens to focus on family life. Her family, including her musician dad Frederick, retired accountant mum Mina, and sister, Nicola, who live in Northern Ireland, and two stepdaughters, Luna, 16, and Isla,15, from Frank’s previous relationship with model Elen Rivas, are her world. Patricia is named after Frank’s late mum and Freddie after her dad.