BBC Breakfast star Sian Williams 'wasn't the best of mums' when she co-presented show

Sian Williams says hosting BBC Breakfast wasn't good for her as a parent credit:Bang Showbiz
Sian Williams says hosting BBC Breakfast wasn't good for her as a parent credit:Bang Showbiz

Sian Williams "wasn't the best of mums" when she was hosting 'BBC Breakfast'.

The 60-year-old TV presenter co-fronted the programme from 2001 until 2012 but admits that it wasn't a great job for parenting her offspring - stepdaughter Emily, 27, Seth, 17, Eve, 15, whom she has with her husband Paul Woolwich and Joss, 32 and Alex, 30 from her first marriage to Neale Hunt - because of the early mornings and early bedtimes that were needed.

She is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper's HotTV column as saying: "When I was on 'Breakfast', I was getting up at 3.30am and getting home around just after 4pm.

"You know, that feeling of jet lag when you get up really early if you've got a flight to catch or something like that - you can feel like that a lot.

"As I've got five kids, I wasn't the best of mums for a good few hours, and I would always be in bed before they were."

Since leaving 'BBC Breakfast' after the show relocated to Manchester in 2012, Sian has gone on to host many shows, including her 'Classical Unwind' programme on BBC Radio 3, which she records in her "tiny little studio set up" in her home, so time with her children is not missed.

She explained: "We've got a tiny little studio set up.

"It is literally a microphone connected to a computer.

"It's the best. And I've got a view over the hills.

"I feel very privileged."

Sian previously revealed that she wants her children to be "sensitive, caring and loving" just like her mother.

She said: "If I only do one thing well, I hope it’s that I’m a good mother to my children Joss, Alex, Seth, Eve, and my stepdaughter, Emily.

"I’d like them to grow up to be sensitive, caring and loving, just like my mother.

"When I first became pregnant, I’d only just started working at the BBC in London.

"Mum was dancing around the kitchen with excitement and Dad said, 'What about your job?'"