Saira Khan has opened up exclusively to HELLO! about how her family has coped with lockdown in the past few extraordinary months.
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As we join the Loose Women presenter at the Oxfordshire home she shares with her husband Steve Hyde, their two children Zac, 12, and nine-year-old Amara, and their new puppy Vera, Saira proudly says: "I feel lucky that we as a family have done so well to keep things together.
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"Yes, we've had our rows but we've managed and coped really well, which has been a real lesson for us. If we lost everything, as long as we had each other we'd be okay."
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That's not to say that over the past few months she hasn't been confronted by her own share of challenges. "Steve and I are quite good-fun parents, so our children like our company, but we've been in lockdown since March and they're not going back to school until September – it's not easy," she says, voicing the concerns of many parents.
"My son is going through all these hormonal changes and just wants to be out with his mates."
Saira with her daughter Amara, who she calls her 'best friend'
"And I'm not going to sugar-coat it, but I don't think it's normal for couples to be together like this," adds Saira with typical candour about the stresses of working from home alongside Steve, who runs a digital advertising company.
"I have a very strong marriage, but I thank God Loose Women brings me into the studio one day a week [on Wednesdays] as it's a massive release. We've got no live audience and there's a skeleton staff with no hair, make-up or wardrobe, but it's lovely catching up with the girls.
"I'm a strong person and very in tune with my feelings but it's getting stressful. The novelty has worn off! But we spend time together as a family and have gone for lots of walks. I always talk to the children about issues and ask them: 'How are you finding lockdown?'"
Read the full interview in this week's issue of HELLO! out now.
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