Inviting HELLO! into the beautiful Surrey home she shares with husband Mark Herbert and their two-year-old Ella Rose, Good Morning Britain star Charlotte Hawkins reveals how she's taking tips for Strictly Come Dancing from her daughter. "I look at Ella Rose when she's dancing and she's so carefree; completely confident," she says during our exclusive interview and photoshoot. "I think I need a bit of that inner two-year-old to help me on Strictly. That’s the bit you need to hold onto. I need to learn from her."
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She adds: "Ella Rose finds it funny when I practise in the kitchen. She helps me with the counting – 'Five, six, seven eight.' She does baby ballet and has taken to it like a duck to water. But she gets all her dancing skills from Peppa Pig. She's not the most delicate." Charlotte also laughs off the prospect of being hit by the notorious curse of Strictly in our exclusive interview and photoshoot. "One of the things I get asked about most is the 'curse of Strictly', but it's not an issue as we're very happily married," says the presenter of her relationship with her husband, who runs the sales team for a company that owns spirits, champagne and wine brands.
Charlotte Hawkins reveals all about her Strictly Come Dancing training in the new issue of HELLO!
Charlotte, who's partnered with Brendan Cole – dubbed the 'badboy of ballroom' - for this year's series of the hit dance show, adds: "He won his first series with Natasha Kaplinsky, another breakfast news reader, so maybe that will be good luck. I don't know. He has my complete commitment and determination and I'm throwing everything I can into doing as well as I can."
Charlotte and Brendan were already friends after taking part in 2013 charity competition Dancing with Sky’s Stars – Charlotte was a contestant and Brendan a judge. "It's really important they get on – there needs to be quite a bit of chemistry there for their dancing to be good," says supportive husband Mark. "Brendan is a really nice bloke – I'm very happy with him as a choice."
Read the full interview in the new issue of HELLO!, out Monday.