Ulrika Jonsson

“Parenting is a rollercoaster of baloney with no instruction manual. We just have to do our best.”

“The press has always done terrible things to me.”

“We all want to do the best by our children. I will try to ensure my children have something when I leave this green and pleasant land, but if I was a multimillionaire - and this may come as a shock to my kids - I wouldn't set them up for life.”

“We all like a good filter on Instagram, me included. I use basic ones from time to time but am quite willing for people to see me first thing in the morning, stripped of make-up and without the aid of a filter. I believe in balance.”

“I'm old school and had trained to be a presenter, but suddenly everyone on social media thought they could perform that role too. There were also so many commercial TV channels and more trashy shows. Although I love watching them, I didn't want to be part of them.”

“I would paint myself as a liberal parent. But I am also a strict disciplinarian. I insist on good behaviour and bloody good manners.”

“We need to embrace its existence and accept that with 42 per cent of marriages ending in divorce, and with us living longer, we are considerably more likely to find ourselves in multiple serious relationships.”

“As women, we are fully expected to surrender a huge part, or all, of ourselves to motherhood.”

“Living as we do in an over-stimulative world where kids are brought up on an all-you-can-eat buffet of technological gadgets, screens and electronic games, it's really important they have a break from that and tap into their imagination.”

“If you go on a reality show in the vain hope you might be viewed as something other than who people believe you are, you will come unstuck.”

“I was always previously looking for The One. I am not any more. I don't need anyone. I am really happy in my own company.”

“Women who become mothers are policed and regulated during pregnancy, forced to give up so much - work and ambition, often.”

“We are an island nation and yet, in the 43 years I have lived in England, I believe I've only heard two Public Service Announcements regarding drowning and the dangers of water.”

“Weird thing is, throughout my life I didn't realise it wasn't normal to have pain in your hips. Mine is chronic and I guess I've been living with it for most of my life.”

“A couple of years into filming 'Gladiators', I became pregnant with my first child, and as someone who'd had maternity coursing through her veins since she was young, I threw myself head-first into all things motherhood.”

“I did not have an affectionate childhood, neither of my parents were expressive in that way.”

“I have experienced a fairly wide range of motherhood. I've done it on my own a lot of the time, I've done it smug and married, I've done it with a chronically ill child, I've done it with other children around, I've done it young and I've done it old.”

“I run a strict 'shoes off' policy and have no hesitation in telling people to take off their dirty, outdoor footwear when they venture into my house.”

“In the good old days when there was no social media and no mobile phones, when you were forced to actually physically meet someone and you often mixed in the same social groups, there was a sense of accountability about things.”

“I was certainly no swan - with my horrendously protruding goofy teeth, bow legs and under-developed, clumsy, boyish, adolescent body. I was never cool, nor confident.”