Mollie King has said becoming a mother and losing her own father within 10 days of each other is “the hardest I’ve ever been pushed”.
The Saturdays singer and Radio 1 broadcaster welcomed her first child with cricketer Stuart Broad in November 2022, shortly before her father died of a brain tumour.
Reflecting on that time, she told Women’s Health UK: “When I found out I was pregnant, my dad was the healthiest person I knew. He was really athletic; he’d run three marathons in his time and he was still super strong.
“And so, to then find out halfway through my pregnancy that he had a brain tumour and that we didn’t have long with him was such a shock – a shock feels like an understatement…
“I think (the lesson) is just be kind to yourself; to know that you never know what’s around the corner.
“Also, that when you’re really, really pushed – that’s the hardest I’ve ever been pushed, learning to be a mum and then my dad passed away 10 days after the birth of Annabella – I actually think the big thing that I have learned is that we are stronger than we think we are.
“And I think that we’ve all got it in us to be strong.”
Earlier this year King completed a 500km cycle from London to Hull for Comic Relief in memory of her late father and said she had not considered the emotional ramifications of the endeavour.
She said: “It was so weird, because going into (the challenge), I didn’t really think about how it would be broadcast. All I was thinking about really was the more physical side of it… And I did show a really vulnerable side.
“But it wasn’t really like it was a choice. It was just what I was going through. And it’s still something that’s incredibly raw and really difficult to talk about in day-to-day life.
“I just don’t really talk about it. Because it – it just hurts so much. So, it was something that just came out, and it couldn’t not come out because it’s what I’m going through every day.”
King and Broad have been in a relationship since 2012 and announced their engagement in 2021.
Addressing how she knew he was the one, she said: “I had always thought I would love to be a mum if I’m lucky enough… And when Stuart and I started dating a few years down the line, I was like, ‘I know this is it’.
“We’re very similar, but in the ways where we are very different, it feels like it’s a really good balance, which I noticed immediately.
“I’m a big overthinker and I can be a little bit of a worrier, whereas Stuart is not an overthinker. Stuart’s like, ‘Right, this is what I’m going to do and this is how I’m going to do it’.”
The full interview is available to Women’s Health members on the WH app now and in the magazine from May 28.