Ferne is still winging motherhood, but also killing it at the same time
When Ferne McCann gave birth to her daughter, Sunday, a little over a year ago she was about to embark on a journey as a single mother in the spotlight.
She wasn’t the first to do parenthood alone as a celebrity and she definitely won’t be the last, however there was a certain public interest in Ferne, seeing as who Sunday’s father is.
Not long into her pregnancy, Ferne was dealt a blow when her then-boyfriend Arthur Collins was arrested for his involvement in an acid attack at a Dalston nightclub in April 2017.
Ferne, 28, did her best to not let his wrongdoings overshadow her pregnancy and when he was jailed for 20 years, the reality star and businesswoman pledged to raise her adorable daughter on her own.
Speaking with Metro.co.uk as part of Fertility Month, Ferne doesn’t gloss over the fact raising a child on your own is tough graft, mixed with a dash of loneliness. But it’s her normal; their normal.
‘Some people do plan from the get go to be single parents. I know it’s a minority, but I had a friend ask for some advice recently. “What is it like being on your own?” Yes, majority of people don’t choose to be a single parent,’ she told us. ”But I can’t imagine it any other way.’
It’s Ferne and Sunday and that’s just the way she likes it (Picture: fernemccann/Instagram)
However she added: ‘There are struggles and it is difficult and it can be lonely.
‘I had a moment the other day where I smashed a glass off the side, and then the tomato ketchup went everywhere, straight after I cleaned up all the glass. I’ve got an open front room and kitchen and I didn’t want to close Sunday in another room because she’ll cry. I didn’t know what to do. I thought this is where I need someone to take her off me. There are definitely struggles being a single parent but I can’t imagine raising her in a partnership now.’
Single parents, especially single mothers, may be slapped with misconceptions and pre-conceived ideas, but to Ferne, a year into parenthood, she’s loving the dynamic duo she’s made with Sunday.
‘This is our normal. Me and Sunday, just us two,’ the First Time Mum star said. ‘If I was to change that it would feel really off. She’s only going to know that as well. What even is normal these days?’
She’s shown there is nothing negative about being a single parent (Picture: Rex Features)
The former Towie girl admitted there was a period at the beginning of Sunday’s life when she shunned the single parent label, perhaps worried at what it might mean to others looking from the outside in. Now she realised how dangerous labelling others can be.
‘At the beginning I didn’t want to be called a single parent. The laziness that comes with it, there seems to be a negative connotation for single parents, I was called “Single parent Ferne McCann”,’ Ferne said. ‘Actually no, I’m like any other mum, I’m just a parent. It was the labelling that bothered me.’
The saying, ‘it takes a village to raise a baby’ rings true for the mother, who has Sunday surrounded by a lot of love. And while she might not have a partner, or Sunday’s father in her life, from her mother to her stylist, Ferne waxed lyrical on her support network.
She has that bit worked out.
Dating, though? That’s a whole other kettle of fish.
Ferne has recently been linked to Love Island’s Charlie Brake. And while she’s yet to confirm whether or not they’re dating, only going so far as calling him ‘handsome’, she told Metro.co.uk she’s only just getting back into the swing of dating and all that involves when you’re raising a baby.
‘Dating has completely changed. I don’t have my own time to just go on a date. It has to be a lot more planned,’ she said. ‘Up until this point I didn’t have time to date, but I definitely want to make more time.
‘But it is more like, I’ve got Sunday and it’s going to take someone pretty special for me to give up my time to go on a date.’
Well aware parenting has come at a time for her when she had to do a lot of growing up to do, including moving out of her mother’s house, Ferne admits she’s still feeling her way when it comes to motherhood and dating.
Life appears to have thrown her some massive curveballs over the past 18 months, but, she’s happy to keep feeling her way.
‘I didn’t really plan my life out when I reached my mid-twenties. Life doesn’t work like that. I am really pleased, though, I feel like it was the right time to have a baby for me,’ she said. ‘At any age, there is no right age, there is no wrong age.
‘Take each day as it comes and just go with it. I’m still very impulsive and last minute and that’s just how my life is. I’m still winging it at motherhood.’
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