Dani Dyer: 'I’m not engaged… headlines make it look like I’m the lady from Bride Wars, demanding a ring!’
Alison Perry
Netmums contributorLove Island winner and TV personality Dani Dyer opens up on The Netmums Podcast about her experiences as a single mum, her relationship and having twins.
Becoming a mum is a huge challenge for most of us, and for mum of three, Dani Dyer, it has been particularly tough. The Love Island star was faced with being a single mum when she split with the father of her three-year-old son, Santiago, seven months after he was born.
Fast forward a couple of years and she is in a happy relationship with West Ham footballer Jarrod Bowen and Dani gave birth to twin girls, Summer and Star, last spring – meaning she had three under three!
But Dani has told The Netmums Podcast that it has made her stronger as a person.
'I never thought I'd have three kids at the age of 27. If you would have said that to me five years ago, I'd have probably laughed. It definitely ages you, but it definitely makes you stronger. And it just changes your life views completely.'
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'Being a single mum was scary but we have an amazing bond'
Dani tells podcast hosts Wendy Golledge and Alison Perry that her period as a single mum felt scary at times but she had a good support network around her.
'It taught me I have strength and ability. But being on your own with a child, it's always a bit more scary, a bit more daunting. I had such lovely support around me. My mum was incredible.
'But you know what? I loved it. We made so many amazing memories together and he really did teach me, obviously, how to be a mum. And he's like my little best friend now. We have such an amazing little bond. I don't know if that's like that boy and mum kind of thing. I feel like I'll still be running his bath when he's 30!'
Having twins is another challenge that came Dani's way, and going from having one child to three felt overwhelming at first, as she tells us.
'When they were born, we had a couple of days in the hospital with them, and then when we came home. I remember my little boy just asked me for a juice. He was like, "Mummy, can I have a juice?" I just started crying. I was like, "I don't know how to get you a juice." I had a baby in each arm! Since then I've just learned along the way, and had to juggle having three kids!'
'When an engagement happens, it happens'
Recent newspaper headlines have made it sound like marriage is just around the corner for Dani and her long-term partner Jarrod. But, as Dani tell us while rolling her eyes and laughing, she isn't engaged and she thinks the headlines make her sound like a Bridezilla!
Talking about an article in The Sun last month, pointing out a new ring on her hand, she says, 'It was a little ring I bought from Abbott Lyon and I've had it for ages. I do have a lot of that – "Dani wants to be engaged and sparks engagement rumours". But I've had that literally since I've come off Love Island. Like constantly. Dani wants to be engaged. It makes me look really demanding, like in all my relationships that I demand an engagement all the time,' she laughs.
'When it happens, it happens. I feel like [the papers make me out to be] that woman off Bride Wars when she demands a ring! That's how I'm coming across.'
'My dad has taught me to always have open arms for my kids'
Dani says she is lucky her dad – actor Danny Dyer – and partner Jarrod get on so well ('he absolutely loves him as a person, but obviously him playing for West Ham is just a tiny little bonus'). And she tells us that her dad is the dream granddad to her kids.
'He's so loving and so affectionate, and we're very open,' she says. 'We literally tell each other everything. That probably did shoot me in the foot a little bit when I was like a teenager growing up, like, telling them everything, but he's definitely taught me that I'd want my children to be able to trust me and be able to talk to me and the highs and lows of everything.
'He's definitely taught me to just have that trust and always have open arms, always be there to listen and especially the affection side of it. I'll say to him, "You sort of set me and my sister up for failure at the beginning, because not a lot of men cuddle and speak about how they feel and all that." He was very like that. And I love that about him.'
Hear more on The Netmums Podcast
Find out more about Dani's family life plus her role as an ambassador for the CBeebies Little Learner app on The Netmums Podcast.
Catch up on previous episodes
Have you caught up with the last season of The Netmums Podcast yet?
It was packed with brilliant guests, from popular children's author Jacqueline Wilson, Gemma Bird aka Money Mum, Steve Backshall, Ollie and Gareth Locke-Locke, Kelsey Parker, Dr Ellie, Nigel Clarke and Sarah Beeny.
Each week we bring you a terrific lineup with guests talking all about parenting, celebrity, money and much much more.
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