Storming back: Presenter and new mum on return to work
Broadcaster Storm Huntley has told how she has learned to ignore online trolls as she returns to the studio as a working mum.
The TV presenter, who is married to LaFontaines frontman Kerr Okan, says having a baby and juggling work and home life is the perfect
distraction from spending too much time online.
Just weeks ago, the 35-year-old presenter returned to co-host the Jeremy Vine Show, after a short 12-week maternity leave to spend time with newborn son Otis. “I knew I would love being a mum and I absolutely am loving it,” she said. “I always thought I would find the newborn stage really boring but I have found Otis just the most fascinating creature on the planet and it couldn’t be further from boring.
“Before Otis I would probably waste my time scrolling through Instagram. Now, I spend hours just staring at him. Babies are probably the only thing more addictive than social media!”
Earlier this year, Huntley, who grew up in Bishopbriggs, revealed hateful messages she was sent via social media but thankfully, since coming back to the show after Otis’ arrival in July, she says the negative comments have been minimal and even if there were, she’s too busy to give them any headspace!
“I think having a baby helps you put things into perspective,” she said. “If you’re going to be bothered by what trolls say online, I would suggest don’t spend too much time online, because there are just too many of them about – and it’s just detrimental for your mental health.
“I think I have developed quite a good filter, I can take the positive and leave the negative behind.”
Although she’s been posting snaps of little Otis on Instagram, Huntley admits that in a year’s time that will probably change. “Kerr and I agreed we are free to share pictures of him until he’s one because babies aren’t really identifiable until then and anything you do before one is completely excusable and not embarrassing at all,” she said.
“After one, though, we’ll probably avoid having him on social media. It’s a consideration that we all need to think about when we have children.”
In the meantime, she’s just loving life and the chance to settle down after a whirlwind three years since falling for Okan as the pandemic hit, getting hitched on the banks of Loch Lomond last year, her pregnancy journey and now becoming a parent…all of which she has shared with viewers of the Channel 5 show.
“I’ve been doing the show in its previous incarnation as well as the Jeremy Vine Show for nearly eight years so I’ve been in people’s living rooms now for that long they’ve seen me through the whole process. It makes you feel like one of the family. It has just been really nice to be able to share it with the viewers.”
Huntley, who gave birth within days of finishing up at work, told colleagues and fans she would return in three months – and stayed true to her word. “I’m just not a person to take time off,” she said.
“I never took time off at school, I’ve never taken very much time off work and so three months to me felt like an eternity. I thought I wouldn’t know what to do when I came back if I took any longer. People said it would fly by and it did.
“But I think it ended up being the perfect time because I wasn’t nervous to get back to work – I was really excited.
“It was just the point where parenting became super, super intense. So I feel like I get the best of both worlds. I’m enjoying work more because there’s just a couple of hours in the day when I can think about me without putting this little person first and then at the end of it I get so excited to come back and see him, so it’s a win-win at the moment.
“Work has made parenting more enjoyable and being a parent has made work more enjoyable.”
Kerr is proving a hands-on dad, taking care of Otis while Huntley is at work, which has lessened the parental guilt of going back to work – but she says it does make for a quick day. “People did try to warn me, but there’s some sort of time shift when you have a baby,” she said. “Time runs at a normal pace before a child and after a child it goes faster than the speed of light. One minute I’m at work, then home and the next it’s bath and bed time for Otis and I’m thinking ‘where did my day go?’.
“I go to bed when he goes to bed and he mostly sleeps all night at just four months old, which is amazing. I’m not tired at all. I’m getting more sleep now than I ever did before I had a baby so I’m bursting with energy.”
Which is a great thing as she’s back with early starts five days a week.
“Media is difficult because you’re constantly working on the next story and the next update…but work has been so understanding and supportive since I came back,” Huntley said. “I think they were shocked I stuck to it and came back after three months. They’ve just done lots of little things but they’ve helped a lot. For example, now producers will send me an email to brief me on tomorrow rather than call late in the evening, just tiny things to make it much easier for me.
“And, of course, Jeremy has been just great. He has kids himself so he totally gets it. And he’s amazing with Otis, like some kind of baby whisperer.”
While her parents are on hand in London to help out, her partner Kerr’s family still live in Motherwell, which means baby Otis will be spending plenty of time in Scotland. “To be honest, if we could have had Otis in Scotland we would have,” she said. “Practically, it didn’t work in terms of maternity appointments so he was born down here.
“I’ve been back and forward between Scotland and London since I was 11, but the missing home thing will always be there. Glasgow will always be home and I think if you asked my husband he would still say we’ll just be down here for a few years and we’re coming back home. There’s always that expectation of going home. I mean, who knows where the future will lead us?”
For now, she’s just focusing on the present and how happy family life is.
“I can’t fully remember what life was like before Otis, but all I know is I never want to go back there,” she said. “It feels like the most natural thing in the world and just another big adventure for us to go on as a couple.”