Kate Silverton may be one of the BBC's most respected newsreaders, but more importantly she is a doting mother to two young children. The 48-year-old shares two children - six-year-old Clemency and four-year-old Wilbur - with husband Mike Heron. She will now be taking some time away from the news spotlight to bring a little bit of glitz and glamour to this year's Strictly Come Dancing - something Kate has been putting on hold since becoming a mother. Speaking at the Strictly press launch, Kate told HELLO!: "The reason why I have never done Strictly before is because I have two children. My kids are too young, now they are four and nearly seven - I just thought now it would be a good time to take part."
Earlier this week, Kate was forced to hit back at a Twitter troll, who claimed she "ditched" her kids. Outraged at the comment, the broadcaster tweeted: "Mr 'anonymous' I take my time with my children very seriously - my children will both be at school when I am training - it's the reason I have agreed to do #Strictly this year. I agree mothering is the most important job - but I would never seek to preach."
© Photo: BBCKate Silverton shares two children with her husband Mike Heron
Despite signing up to the popular series for the next few months, Kate confessed she is more than ready to give her everything in a bid to dance her way to victory. "It's interesting because it's really full on - and my husband also works away a lot, so we are 'juggling juggling' the situation a lot between us. But the nice thing is, I took Wil to a photoshoot, which is hilarious - so I had to get Graziano [Di Prima] to babysit. They were wrestling on the floor at one point." She added: "So you know, I can get the children involved which is great. But I have only been only working part-time since I came back from maternity leave. So I'm taking some time adjusting."
MORE: Who is Kate Silverton? The broadcaster in 60 seconds
The tight schedule will, however, allow her to do the school drop - maybe even with her professional dancer partner in tow! She explained: "It's a good time, my kids are actually going to be starting school full time. So I will be able to train, drop them off at school and then do the pickup - maybe with my [professional] partner with me because the school mums, that will go down really well. I've got myself sorted, so I feel quite good about that."
When asked how taking part in Strictly compares to her real life job, Kate replied: "I'm more comfortable in my day job – I feel very comfortable in the newsroom and this is very surreal. I think it will be a finite period and then we'll go back to normality. It's wonderful to be immersed in, it's really lovely. I'm really enjoying it." The mum-of-two did turn to fellow colleague, Katie Derham, for some advice. "She's emailed to say that it's like a rhinestone blitz spirit because it brings everyone together," the journalist confessed. "You'll see that everyone is really close and then she said, knee supports, blister pads. She just said 'get in and hold on tight and enjoy the ride'. I think you hear it every year, everyone always says 'it's such an amazing journey' and you sit and watch and think 'is it really?'"
Exclusive: Strictly's new pro Graziano Di Prima opens up about traumatic start in life
But once the live shows kick off, Kate admitted that the nerves will definitely sink in. "I'm half petrified and half 'this is going to be the best party ever'," she shared. "We have discovered a lot about nerves and what it takes to get us on the dancefloor." Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC1 this autumn.
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
