Arlene Phillips dreaded taking daughter to school because she was an ‘older mum’

Dame Arlene Phillips has said she dreaded taking her four-year-old daughter to school because she was often confused with being her grandmother.

The I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! campmates were reunited after extreme weather conditions during Storm Arwen caused production difficulties at Gwrych Castle in North Wales.

Discussing motherhood while sat around a campfire, the former Strictly Come Dancing judge said: “My daughter Abi, I remember dreading, absolutely dreading taking her to school age four and having to explain, ‘No, I’m her mother not her grandmother’. I was 47 when I had her.

“When I went to mother and baby class in Primrose Hill my obstetrician came up and whispered – I can never forget this – he kneeled down and said: ‘Have no fear it will get better because you really should be a grandmother, so you’re going to have to find ways to understand how to be a mother again.’

“Why it hurt so much was because having a baby naturally at 47 and thinking it was the menopause for four, five months… I can’t be pregnant, why am I so sick?”

Fellow campmate Frankie Bridge said later: “Arlene was talking about the fact that she always felt a little bit self-conscious at school with her daughter because she was an older mum.

“And it just blows my mind that that was ever an issue for her.

“The fact that she’s here, she’s 78, going through all of this with us, she’s still dancing around and I imagine back then she was exactly the same.

“I get where she’s coming from but I don’t think she’s got anything to worry about.”

The show was back on ITV after extreme weather conditions during Storm Arwen led to Saturday, Sunday and Monday’s live episodes being cancelled.

The celebrities were evacuated as a precaution during the storm and taken to separate locations without access to phones, internet or TVs.

Reuniting in the camp, Emmerdale star Danny Miller revealed he had stuck to his diet of rice and beans and even slept on the floor while in quarantine.

At the end of the episode, the celebrities discovered that ex-footballer David Ginola had been voted new camp leader, with actor Miller as his deputy – and the two will be sharing close quarters.

Talking to Ginola, Miller said: “This is a dream come true for me, you and me in the same bed. I could cry mate, honestly. I’m doing everything not to.”

In the Telegraph, Miller added: “Sleeping next to the guy, I have 100% solidified my man crush on him.”

I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! continues at 9pm on ITV and ITV Hub.