Alex Jones admits she worried it was ‘un-feminist’ to consider her fertility when she was focusing on her career (Picture: Getty Images)
Alex Jones has admitted she had a complicated relationship between her feminist identity and the thoughts of becoming a mother when she was younger.
The One Show presenter, 45, is now mum to three children with husband Charlie Thomson, but suffered heartbreak along the way.
Alex had a miscarriage in 2017 before welcoming Teddy, five, Kit, three, and one-year-old Annie, and was 39 when she had her first child.
The Welsh native is open about fertility issues, having welcomed her first child after filming documentary Fertility And Me in which she explored the less-spoken-about aspects of getting pregnant at an older age.
Five years later, Alex is now fronting new series Alex Jones: Making Babies, a weekly show which sees her train as a fertility assistant in one of the UK’s top fertility clinics.
The mum-of-three has now admitted she struggled with the idea of becoming a mum when she was younger as she thought it was ‘un-feminist’ to think about starting a family when she should be focusing on her career.
Alex is now a mother of three, having welcomed youngest child Annie in 2021 (Picture: instagram/alexjonesthomson )
She and husband Charlie also have Teddy, five, and three-year-old Kit (Picture: instagram/alexjonesthomson)
She told the How To Fail podcast with Elizabeth Day: ‘I thought it was a bit un-feminist in a way to even say “I’m worried about my fertility,” because you’re so busy carving out your career.
‘Nobody wants to hear about the fact that you might want babies down the road.’
She added that she believes the perception is ‘shifting a bit’ but ‘slowly,’ and is still ‘very much there.’
Reflecting on her younger days and the beginning of her lucrative career, she recalled: ‘Throughout school, throughout your teenage years, throughout your twenties, the main thing is don’t get pregnant because that will mess up your career.
‘Nobody at any point said, “But you might want to think about [fertility] if you want a family because actually, it is as important as a career.”‘
The presenter has been speaking about her own pregnancy journey and other fertility issues amid the release of new documentary series Making Babies (Picture: ITV)
She said that to some people having a family may not be as important as having a career ‘but it’s still up there’ – and that as soon as you decide you’re ready and want a baby, ‘the tables turn – it’s a 360.’
Alex recently opened up on the subject when she recalled how she spent most of her twenties thinking ‘don’t get pregnant’ before she and her husband decided they wanted to begin trying when she was in her mid-thirties.
Speaking to The Sun, she recalled the ‘whole new and different level of wanting – the disappointment and what it does to you as a couple.’
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She added that herself and Charlie were ‘really naive’ thinking they would get pregnant quickly and easily, and urged: ‘if you’re in a relationship and you know you want kids, go for your life as soon as you can.’
Alex acknowledged, however, that it’s ‘not always that straightforward,’ adding: ‘I think sometimes it’s not in your control.’
Alex Jones: Making Babies airs on the W Channel
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The star had a complicated relationship with the idea of motherhood when she was younger and making her mark in the industry.
